One of many Navy’s Superior Digital Warfare Jets Has Crashed in Washington

The U.S. Navy is looking for two missing crew members after their EA-18G Growler jet crashed close to Mount Rainier on Tuesday night time. In line with early studies from the Navy, the Growler was flying close to the mountain throughout a routine coaching flight when it crashed at 3:23 p.m.

“A number of search and rescue property, together with a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter, launched from NAS Whidbey Island to find the crew and study the crash website. As of seven p.m. on Oct. 15, the standing of the 2 crew members stays unknown,” the Navy mentioned in an announcement.

The crashed Growler was a part of an digital warfare unit and a part of the Digital Assault Squadron 130 primarily based out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. Nicknamed the “Zappers,” the squadron had not too long ago returned from the Crimson Sea the place it flew 700 combat missions in opposition to the Houthis. The Growler survived lots of of missions taking pictures down drones solely to be felled throughout a coaching mission again dwelling.

The reason for the crash stays unknown and Growlers haven’t gained a fame for crashing and technical issues just like the V-22 Osprey and the F-35 joint strike fighter. The Growler crash is the most recent in a protracted line of current aviation mishaps for the U.S. army. Most of the crashes contain new and technologically superior plane just like the V-22 and F-35.

The V-22 is a tiltrotor plane that may land and take off like a helicopter after which tilt its rotors to fly like a airplane. Its distinctive design has induced issues. Final 12 months, the Pentagon grounded its complete fleet of V-22s following a high-profile crash in November that killed eight airmen. In August of that 12 months, one other V-22 crashed in Australia and killed three Marines.

In 2022, a V-22 crash killed 5 Marines in Glamis, California. In March, 4 Marines died throughout a NATO coaching train in Norway when the V-22 they have been in crashed. In 2015, two Marines died throughout one other accident involving the V-22.

The F-35, America’s trillion-dollar boondoggle, can be vulnerable to crashing. In September of 2023, one of many superior fighter jets went lacking within the skies over South Carolina. The Pentagon begged the public to assist discover it. The pilot had safely ejected however the jet was on autopilot. The DoD later found the remains of the factor two hours north of Charleston.

An F-35 shot itself within the skies over Arizona in 2021. In 2022, folks filmed an F-35 crashing on a runway in Fort Value, Texas. The identical 12 months, a software program glitch induced one to crash in Utah. Extra dramatic video from an plane service in 2022 leaked online exhibiting one crash because it got here in for a touchdown. In Could 2020, an F-35 landed so exhausting on a runway that it rolled, caught fireplace, and was completely destroyed.

The listing of F-35 and V-22 accidents goes on, that’s only a small sampling. The Growler, in contrast, has a fairly spotless file. In 2018, an Australian Growler burst into flames on a runway forward of a coaching train, however that’s the one high-profile catastrophe involving the jets thus far.