A maritime navigation alert released by the Japanese government suggests where the salvage operation might take place, but the US Navy has mostly remained mum about how it plans to raise the wreckage of a high-tech F-35C Lightening II that crashed onto an aircraft carrier and fell into the South China Sea last week.
The Japanese Coast Guard on Saturday issued a navigation warning indicating that a salvage operation is taking place in the norther corner of the South China Sea. The area is about 185 miles west of the Philippines and 350 miles east of Woody Island in the Parcels, a group of artificial islands on which Beijing has established an airbase and other military structures.
It has been reported that the Navy is planning recovery operations to recover the jet, which crashed into the deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson on January 24 and then fell into the water, injuring the pilot and six sailors.
The Japan Coast Guard’s Hydrological and Oceanographic Department is the area coordinator for NAVAREA XI, a maritime geographic area demarcated by the International Maritime Organization.
