Additional Coverage:
An F-35 fighter jet assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing crashed Friday morning at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, prompting an emergency response and sparking a brush fire, a base spokesperson confirmed.
The incident occurred around 10 a.m. local time on the flight line involving an F-35B from Marine Aircraft Group 11, according to 1st Lt. Blake Starbuck. The aircraft is based at MCAS Miramar.
The Marine Corps classified the event as a “Class A mishap,” indicating significant damage. The pilot successfully ejected and was recovered, though officials have not yet released information regarding their condition.
Details about the flight’s purpose, whether it was departing, arriving, or engaged in training, remain unclear at this time, Starbuck said.
The F-35B is the Marine Corps’ short takeoff and vertical landing version of Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter. The aircraft is designed for air-to-air combat, strike missions, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations.
Video footage from SkyRanger 7 showed the wreckage broken into two main sections amid a scorched area roughly the size of a football field. The crash also ignited a fire in a field north of State Route 52, visible from the freeway and prompting calls to the California Highway Patrol.
MCAS Miramar, home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, serves as a key aviation hub on the West Coast, supporting a variety of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft for training and operational missions.
The Marine Corps routinely investigates such mishaps to determine causes and implement safety improvements. Officials have not announced when further details about the investigation will be available.
This is a developing story, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.