End of the saga: At the end of a seven-day operation, American, British and Italian naval forces managed to remove the remains of the F-35B plane that crashed on it about a month ago from the depths of the Mediterranean.
A statement from the British Defense Department said: "We have been able to get the F-35B survivors out of the depths of the sea.
In this regard, British sources told the Times that "all important parts of the plane have been removed and there are no means left on the bottom that can reveal its secrets."
The depth at which the remains of the aircraft, which fell during takeoff from the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, was estimated at almost a mile (1.6 kilometers) and it was necessary to bring special tools and advanced underwater equipment to pull the various parts.
The reason for the great urgency of the operation was the fear that Russian underwater tools would reach the remains of the aircraft and gain access to the advanced technology of the aircraft, which allows it a very high degree of evasion from radar systems.
In preparation for the complex rescue, the British navy recruited a large number of rescue and diving experts from the United States, Britain while also leasing Italian navy ships. At the same time, naval ships secured the crash site whose exact location was kept secret.
In practice the rescue operation itself pleasantly surprised the British with the speed with which it was carried out.
It was not disclosed how the plane was rescued but the Daily Mail reports that Italian vessels as well as an American submarine specializing in deep-sea sailing took part in raising the parts to sea level.
Beyond the submarine, underwater robotic vehicles were apparently used that attached oxygen balloons to the parts of the aircraft and flooded them, as well as a towed American submarine with advanced sonar capabilities.
Upon loading the aircraft parts, the British Air Force said that the parts would be "disposed of at a military base of a member state in the Mediterranean region" when it may be referring to a base of the Italian navy in the area.
At the same time, the British Ministry of Defense continues to investigate the crash of the expensive plane, which is worth over £ 100 million per unit.
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