Military F-35B fighter jet crashes and burns at California Marine Corps base

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Military F-35B fighter jet crashes and burns at California Marine Corps base​

By Aaron Cooper
PUBLISHED JUL 31, 2026, 2:22 PM ET

A fighter jet crashed and erupted into flames at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California on Friday, sending smoke billowing into the sky that could be seen from miles away.

The single-seat F-35B Lightning II aircraft from Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, went down short of the runway just before 10 a.m. PT.

“The pilot ejected (and) was transported to a local medical facility in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries,” according to a statement from the wing.

Airport fire crews sprayed the wreckage with firefighting foam and worked to extinguish a grass fire surrounding the crash site.

“F-35 short final crash,” the Miramar air traffic control tower told firefighters in audio recorded by LiveATC.net. “It appeared that the parachute did deploy … and a pilot ejected.”

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Military plane crashes are typically investigated by the military as opposed to civilian crashes which are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Billed as “the most advanced jet fighter in the world” by its manufacturer, the F-35B is a stealth aircraft that can land like a conventional plane, or vertically, similar to a helicopter. The more than 50-foot-long jet is operated by the US Marines, the United Kingdom and the Italian Air Force. The planes cost about $102 million each, according to the manufacturer.

About 15,000 service members from all branches of the military are based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, located in San Diego.
 
Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/31/us/military-jet-crash-california-marine-base

BREAKING: F-35 Marine Corps jet crash deemed a 'mishap'​

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Single-engine F-35 averages just 1.5 to 1.6 Class-A mishaps per 100,000 flight hours.
 

TIMELINE - 14 F-35 fighter jets crash since 2018​

Facing reliability, maintainability challenges, 14 F-35 Lockheed Martin fighter jets crashed in last 8 years, mostly in US, according to data.

760984758_1000542102979323_3992961038834158702_n.png
 
Beijingwalker said:

TIMELINE - 14 F-35 fighter jets crash since 2018​

Facing reliability, maintainability challenges, 14 F-35 Lockheed Martin fighter jets crashed in last 8 years, mostly in US, according to data.

760984758_1000542102979323_3992961038834158702_n.png
Click to expand...

Still a small percentage of the fleet, and it is doing far better than the Su57E.
 
Ali_Baba said:
Still a small percentage of the fleet, and it is doing far better than the Su57E.
Click to expand...
2 F35, 2 Growler and 8 crew members on board B52 gone in the last three months, no matter how you see it, it aint right.
 
US will eventually produce as much as China in almost every military category except electronics for now and naval shipbuilding where South Korea will help bridge the gap. US still controls the seas far better than China. PLAN isn't even close to being ubiquitous. If Chinese supply ships start getting hunted, they could end up facing what the Japanese did later in WWII.

People glaze China but forget how rapidly the US is expanding its MIC.
Ammo production is already nearing a threefold increase to 1.6 million shells per year, with more capacity still coming.

SAM production is being tripled with at least two new production lines coming up across the US and its allies.

JASSM production is now being tripled as well. US also has a strong pvt sector manufacturing base. Once orders start flowing, Typhon and ATACMS missiles could effectively form its conventional rocket force.

US is already the king of aerospace production with around 200 F-35s being produced annually about 18 F-16s per year while the F-15 and F/A-18 production lines are still active. In a WW3 scenario, these lines can be ramped up very quickly.

Infantry shortage? US doesn't have a demographic crisis. If enough white Americans don't enlist, they could simply recruit illegal Latinos in exchange for military service. Between the Army, Marines, Reserves, National Guard and such recruits, they could put together a force of around 1.3 million infantry if push came to shove.

The only major issue they're facing is finding enough skilled manpower and engineers to expand production of small missiles like MANPADS, ATGMs and BVRAAMs. That will likely be fixed within the next 2-3 years.

Another major issue was the lack of rare metals for radars and sensors. That is now being addressed rapidly through new mines, long term contracts and processing capacity independent of China.

The biggest weakness was the inability to build large numbers of warships quickly and cheaply. They're addressing that by offshoring maintenance to allies and leveraging South Korea, one of the world's largest shipbuilders for production.

US also has an active tanker production line. The only real gap is new AWACS production, but if required, existing aircraft already in production could be modified into Wedgetail-type platforms fairly quickly.

C-17 production could be restarted if needed, while the C-130 and Chinook production lines remain active.

On top of that, the US has a massive boneyard of stored fighters, tankers, transport aircraft and even some naval assets that could be brought back if required.

US military industrial capability is much closer to China's than many people think. There is no cakewalk for China in almost any field except warship construction and rocket force production rates, and even those gaps are being addressed or can be countered.

@Nimble
 
NeptunesVortex said:
US will eventually produce as much as China in almost every military category except electronics for now and naval shipbuilding where South Korea will help bridge the gap. US still controls the seas far better than China. PLAN isn't even close to being ubiquitous. If Chinese supply ships start getting hunted, they could end up facing what the Japanese did later in WWII.

People glaze China but forget how rapidly the US is expanding its MIC.
Ammo production is already nearing a threefold increase to 1.6 million shells per year, with more capacity still coming.

SAM production is being tripled with at least two new production lines coming up across the US and its allies.

JASSM production is now being tripled as well. US also has a strong pvt sector manufacturing base. Once orders start flowing, Typhon and ATACMS missiles could effectively form its conventional rocket force.

US is already the king of aerospace production with around 200 F-35s being produced annually about 18 F-16s per year while the F-15 and F/A-18 production lines are still active. In a WW3 scenario, these lines can be ramped up very quickly.

Infantry shortage? US doesn't have a demographic crisis. If enough white Americans don't enlist, they could simply recruit illegal Latinos in exchange for military service. Between the Army, Marines, Reserves, National Guard and such recruits, they could put together a force of around 1.3 million infantry if push came to shove.

The only major issue they're facing is finding enough skilled manpower and engineers to expand production of small missiles like MANPADS, ATGMs and BVRAAMs. That will likely be fixed within the next 2-3 years.

Another major issue was the lack of rare metals for radars and sensors. That is now being addressed rapidly through new mines, long term contracts and processing capacity independent of China.

The biggest weakness was the inability to build large numbers of warships quickly and cheaply. They're addressing that by offshoring maintenance to allies and leveraging South Korea, one of the world's largest shipbuilders for production.

US also has an active tanker production line. The only real gap is new AWACS production, but if required, existing aircraft already in production could be modified into Wedgetail-type platforms fairly quickly.

C-17 production could be restarted if needed, while the C-130 and Chinook production lines remain active.

On top of that, the US has a massive boneyard of stored fighters, tankers, transport aircraft and even some naval assets that could be brought back if required.

US military industrial capability is much closer to China's than many people think. There is no cakewalk for China in almost any field except warship construction and rocket force production rates, and even those gaps are being addressed or can be countered.

@Nimble
Click to expand...
100% agreed... not only USA is the king of aerospace, defense industry it has huge huge real time battle experience.... they are a battle hardened military whereas China since its birth is yet to see even a small scale ariel or naval battle.... it's laughable when people believe semi landlocked China is capable of breaking out 3 island chains and win the war against America in the deep oceans....
 
Nimble said:
100% agreed... not only USA is the king of aerospace, defense industry it has huge huge real time battle experience.... they are a battle hardened military whereas China since its birth is yet to see even an ariel or naval battle.... it's laughable when people believe semi landlocked China is capable of breaking out 3 island chains and win the war against America in the deep oceans....
Click to expand...

PL-15 changed that overnight.
 
NeptunesVortex said:
US will eventually produce as much as China in almost every military category except electronics for now and naval shipbuilding where South Korea will help bridge the gap. US still controls the seas far better than China. PLAN isn't even close to being ubiquitous. If Chinese supply ships start getting hunted, they could end up facing what the Japanese did later in WWII.

People glaze China but forget how rapidly the US is expanding its MIC.
Ammo production is already nearing a threefold increase to 1.6 million shells per year, with more capacity still coming.

SAM production is being tripled with at least two new production lines coming up across the US and its allies.

JASSM production is now being tripled as well. US also has a strong pvt sector manufacturing base. Once orders start flowing, Typhon and ATACMS missiles could effectively form its conventional rocket force.

US is already the king of aerospace production with around 200 F-35s being produced annually about 18 F-16s per year while the F-15 and F/A-18 production lines are still active. In a WW3 scenario, these lines can be ramped up very quickly.

Infantry shortage? US doesn't have a demographic crisis. If enough white Americans don't enlist, they could simply recruit illegal Latinos in exchange for military service. Between the Army, Marines, Reserves, National Guard and such recruits, they could put together a force of around 1.3 million infantry if push came to shove.

The only major issue they're facing is finding enough skilled manpower and engineers to expand production of small missiles like MANPADS, ATGMs and BVRAAMs. That will likely be fixed within the next 2-3 years.

Another major issue was the lack of rare metals for radars and sensors. That is now being addressed rapidly through new mines, long term contracts and processing capacity independent of China.

The biggest weakness was the inability to build large numbers of warships quickly and cheaply. They're addressing that by offshoring maintenance to allies and leveraging South Korea, one of the world's largest shipbuilders for production.

US also has an active tanker production line. The only real gap is new AWACS production, but if required, existing aircraft already in production could be modified into Wedgetail-type platforms fairly quickly.

C-17 production could be restarted if needed, while the C-130 and Chinook production lines remain active.

On top of that, the US has a massive boneyard of stored fighters, tankers, transport aircraft and even some naval assets that could be brought back if required.

US military industrial capability is much closer to China's than many people think. There is no cakewalk for China in almost any field except warship construction and rocket force production rates, and even those gaps are being addressed or can be countered.

@Nimble
Click to expand...
Slaves unconditional love for their former masters :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

www.aei.org

The U.S. Can't Handle a War

The United States possesses the world’s most advanced military equipment, and quality matters immensely in combat. But quantity gets a say, too. And from ships to shells to soldiers, the U.S. military lacks the personnel...
www.aei.org www.aei.org
 
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Nothing out of line. US is open country. They don't hide their failures.
 
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