F-35C Crash in California, What We Know: Late Wednesday afternoon, a Navy F-35C crashed in California, close to NAS Lemoore, which is the home of the Navy’s West Coast F-35Cs and F/A-18E/F aircraft.
F-35C Crash: What We Know as of 7/31/2025 1 PM EST
Details are sketchy as the investigation into the crash is in its very early stages.
The Navy confirmed the crash and local emergency vehicles rushed to the scene and tried to extinguish the fires and preserve any evidence as to the cause of the crash.
The good news is that no one was injured in the crash. “NAS Lemoore can confirm an aviation incident on the Operations side of the installation. At 1830, an F-35C attached to the VFA-125 ‘Rough Raiders’ went down not far from NAS Lemoore.
“NAS Lemoore can confirm the pilot successfully ejected and is safe. There are no additional affected personnel. The cause of the incident is under investigation.”
Now Comes The Questions About The F-35 Again
No aircraft has been questioned as closely and frankly unfairly as the F-35.
And, let’s face it, in today’s world of social media, negativity sells. It is a proven fact.
The F-35 is everyone’s favorite whipping boy when it comes to availability, capability, and when one happens to crash, which is not remotely as often as some would have you believe.
The media has been quick to point out the F-35’s perceived weaknesses, which have been quite overblown.
Alex Hollings of Airpower and Sandboxx News wrote an outstanding piece on how “often” the F-35 crashes last October.
“You’ll often see people claiming that the F-35 crashes often, for instance, despite having one of the best safety records of any fighter in the modern era. In fact, the F-35 averages just 1.6 crashes for every 100,000 hours these jets spend in the sky – less than half of the F-16’s lifetime average of 3.55 crashes per 100,000 flight hours.
“Yet, headlines about F-35 crashes drive lots of traffic, and today, most people don’t recall the F-16’s troubled early years between 1975 and 1993, when the legendary Viper suffered more than double the branch average for aircraft losses.
“In fact, between fiscal years 1988 and 1994, an average of 17 F-16 airframes were lost per year, for an average of 4.21 airframes lost per 100,000 flight hours.”
The ‘Problems’ Keep Mounting…
When it comes to availability, numerous articles fail to mention availability rates. And the consensus opinions always point to the failings of the aircraft. Not so.
The 96-page Government Accountability Office report that many articles refer to clearly states,“The analysis projected that if DOD achieved planned depot capacity, the air vehicle availability rates of the F-35B and F-35C would be close to 65 percent, while the air vehicle availability rate of the F-35A would be close to 75 percent.”
So, it isn’t an aircraft problem, but a lack of maintenance facilities, which is not where the issues are perceived.
Israel and the F-35
Much has been made of the rumors that the F-35 isn’t as capable as previously thought. This was especially true when Iran claimed to have tracked and shot down Israeli F-35I Adir variants during the past year. This was straight up fake news.
The Israelis launched hundreds of sorties and flew over Tehran in daylight without losing an aircraft. The US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites were also conducted with F-35s, F-22s, and B-2s without a loss as well.
“The S-300 can ‘lock on’ targets such as the F-35, using radar and missile complexes to cover large swaths of airspace,” an erroneous Bulgarian report claimed. Yet not one Israeli F-35 was shot down during the October operation, or during the airstrikes in June.
I wrote an earlier report for the National Security Journal that, “The F-35I Adir’s performance during the airstrikes against Iran is proof that the F-35’s critics should take a step back and reconsider – the aircraft has performed exactly as it was designed to do.”
Now, the media will begin to harp on the “failings” of the F-35; don’t fall for the “banana in the tailpipe.”
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
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