The US Navy's "Carl Vinson" aircraft carrier "showed muscle" in the South China Sea but folded its wings, and the most advanced US F-35C carrier-based aircraft crashed into the deck of the "Carl Vinson" and went straight into the South China Sea. The F-35C crashed into the sea within the territorial waters on china's doorstep, which undoubtedly made the United States nervous. Because once China recovers the F-35C one step ahead of the United States, it can reverse engineer its sensors and radar components.
Therefore, we have seen that the United States has launched a salvage operation after the F-35C crash. However, due to the unfamiliarity with the hydrological environment in the South China Sea and the impact of factors such as the dispatch of salvage equipment, it is generally believed that it will take at least 120 days for the US military to salvage the F-35C. However, judging from the information revealed by various parties at present, the US military seems to have determined the location of the F-35C falling into the sea.
According to satellite images released by the ESA Sentinel satellite, the aircraft carriers Carl Vinson and Lincoln were active near the northeast of Scarborough Shoal on January 25, and their range of activities was farther south and east than the trajectory of the two aircraft carriers on January 24. Coupled with the South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness Platform on the day of the F-35C crash, the supply ship of the aircraft carrier "Carl Vinson" also appeared about 100 nautical miles northwest of Huangyan Island. From this, we infer that the US military has basically determined the location of the F-35C falling into the sea.
The problem, however, is that, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, islands and mainland coastlines within 200 nautical miles are exclusive economic zones. That is to say, the wreckage of the F-35C crash most likely fell into the exclusive economic zone of the mainland. In this way, the salvage of the F-35C china has the initiative. It is also worth noting that the battery of the black box of the US Navy's F-35C stealth carrier-based aircraft can only last for more than 10 days at most, and once the black box is exhausted, it will be more difficult to accurately locate the location of the F-35C stealth carrier-based aircraft.
However, if the US Navy waits until the salvage vessels and detection equipment are transported to the South China Sea thousands of miles away, and then the salvage operation is carried out, the US Navy will fall into a passive state at the point in time. As a result, the outside world speculates that the possibility of joint salvage between the United States and Japan is greater. At the same time, the South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness Platform disclosed that the activities of the four "Osprey" tilt-rotor transport aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft of the US military have become more frequent in the airspace of the South China Sea. The Japanese Coast Guard also recently issued a navigation warning, announcing that it will carry out salvage operations in the South China Sea, and there is a threat to set up a salvage zone in the South China Sea.
Coincidentally, the no-navigation zone issued by the Japan Coast Guard includes the range of the U.S. Navy's F-35C stealth carrier-based aircraft, near the northern part of the South China Sea. It seems that in order to prevent the F-35C technical secrets from being learned by China, the United States and Japan are bound to join forces to carry out salvage operations in the South China Sea.
However, the US media still raised their own concerns, because the depth of the F-35C stealth carrier-based aircraft crashing into the sea was not the 9,000 meters that was rumored to be outside, but fell into an area with a depth of only about 3,600 meters. In other words, such a depth of sea, and within China's exclusive economic zone, if Chinese equipment is launched, the possibility of preemptively salvaging the F-35C is very large. At that time, if the F-35C stealth carrier aircraft is salvaged by China, the United States will not only lose the first-hand advantage established in the fifth-generation fighter, but also lose the monopoly market of the F-35 series fighter in the world, which is obviously what the Americans are most afraid of.