The US Navy is trying to recover two aircraft from the bottom of the South China Sea that US experts say could yield sensitive information to China if Beijing were to get to them first.
The aircraft – an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet and an MH-60 helicopter – crashed within 30 minutes of each other while operating off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during routine operations in late October, CNN reports.
No official cause has been given for the crashes, but US President Donald Trump suggested to reporters shortly after the incidents that contaminated fuel may be to blame. All crew members were rescued.
The Navy confirmed to CNN on Friday that a salvage ship was operating in the South China Sea, while not revealing the specific location where the aircraft crashed or where the salvage ship is now.
“USNS SALVOR (T-ARS 52), a Safeguard-class salvage ship operated by Military Sealift Command, is on-scene conducting operations in support of the recovery efforts,” said Cmdr. Matthew Comer, a spokesperson for the Navy’s 7th Fleet in Japan.
The Salvor is capable of lifting objects weighing up to 300 tons off the seafloor, according to Navy documents. The maximum takeoff weight of the newest F/A-18 models on the Nimitz is about 33 tons while the MH-60 weighs around 11 tons.
While neither the F/A-18 nor the MH-60 are the most modern of the Navy’s aircraft, experts say the wrecks could yield useful intelligence if they fall into the hands of an adversary.
“Acquiring an air frame and surviving systems will … provide valuable insights into its technological strengths and how to defeat it tactically,” said Carl Schuster, the former head of the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center.
The full CNN report is here.
