A salvage operation could take up to 120 days

The US Navy is attempting to salvage the wreckage of an F-35C stealth fighter that crashed while landing on an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea on January 24.

The F-35C is the version of the F-35 meant to operate off aircraft carriers having catapults. It differs from the F-35A (meant for air forces) and F-35B (vertical take-off and landing version) by having a more strengthened landing gear and larger wingspan.

The F-35C achieved initial operational capability in the US Navy in February 2019.

The US Navy announced on Wednesday it was making efforts to recover the wreckage of the F-35C from the sea floor. Carl Schuster, a former US Navy officer, told CNN that the salvage operation could take up to 120 days.

Schuster warned China could attempt to salvage the wreckage given its territorial claims in the South China Sea. “Salvaging the plane with commercial and coast guard assets will enable Beijing to claim it is recovering a potential environmental hazard or foreign military equipment from its territorial waters,” he told CNN.

He noted China could try to locate the wreckage using a submarine or its deep-diving submersibles. However, Collin Koh, research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said China would not risk antagonising the US over the wreckage and would attempt to shadow the US salvage operations.

Why The F-35 Is So Important

The F-35, a single-engine aircraft, is the newest fighter the US and its allies are inducting currently. Existing Department of Defence plans envision the acquisition of 2,456 F-35 jets for the US Air Force, Navy and Marines. The US Navy is committed to buying 273 F-35Cs while the Marines will be buying 67.

In addition, a number of key US allies in the Asia-Pacific—Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia—are buying the F-35. Given the aircraft's importance as the largest military acquisition program of the US, Washington has instituted a number of restrictions on the use of the F-35.

While its export has been restricted to only the closest allies, the US has also instituted stringent maintenance and overhaul procedures for export users. Only a handful of nations—such as the UK, Italy and Israel—have been allowed to operate maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities for the F-35. In addition, the US also operates a networked logistics system, which receives data from all deployed F-35s. This would, in theory, allow Washington to know what each export buyer is doing with its aircraft.

Why Would China Want The Wreckage

While the condition of the F-35C wreckage remains unclear, even fragments from the aircraft can yield a veritable treasure trove of information to China.

For instance, the F-35 uses an advanced composite-based skin, which is designed to minimise its radar cross-section. Fragments of the wreckage could help Chinese scientists decipher the composition of the materials used to make the skin that would help modify radars to improve their chances of detecting F-35s. Moreover, components such as its radar, electro-optical sensor, other electronics and engine could help China better understand the capabilities of the aircraft, and its limitations.

In addition, any data gained is expected to be funnelled back into upgrading Chinese stealth aircraft such as the J-20, which is in service with the PLA Air Force, and the J-35, which is being developed for the PLA Navy.

Chinese hackers are believed to have obtained data on the F-35 by targeting its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, as far back as 2007. Analysts have long suspected the J-35 was developed from espionage targeting the F-35, though the Chinese aircraft is a twin-engine design.

Physical parts from an F-35 could provide data to improve Chinese workmanship and manufacturing procedures.

Riches From Wreckage

China is believed to have obtained wreckage of a US helicopter that crashed during the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. Beijing allegedly used the information from the wreckage to develop a stealth variant of its own Z-20 transport helicopter. China is also believed to have obtained wreckage of Tomahawk cruise missiles fired against Bin Laden in 1998.