Military Loses F-35 Stealth Fighter Jet In South Carolina, Asks For The Public's Help To Find It

The military is on the hunt for a missing F-35 that is somewhere in South Carolina.

The F-35 is the most advanced multi-role stealth fighter in the history of aviation, and its stealth capabilities are highly-classified.

That's why a Sunday afternoon tweet from Joint Base Charleston was so troubling. The military installation announced an F-35 was missing after a pilot had to eject and anyone in the area who knew where it was should "call the Base Defense Operations Center at 843-963-3600."

The military is focusing its search for the jet, which costs up to $90 million each, on two lakes north of Joint Base Charleston.

The military is searching for a missing F-35.

Most people reading this probably are shrugging thinking, "It's just one plane. Who cares?" That would be an incorrect outlook.

Remember when an F-35 went missing in the South China Sea? China began racing to find it before we could recover it. Why?

If China got it, it could reverse engineer a 20+ year stealth technology gap in a few months. I had two different sources directly involved in the situation say America would sink any Chinese salvage ship that attempted to bring it back to China.

The military is looking for a missing F-35 fighter jet. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

This situation isn't nearly as serious because the plane is somewhere in South Carolina, but it's still incredibly troubling. How does the military not know where the F-35 is? It's a fifth generation fighter. Does it not have tracking technology on it, even if submerged in water? I find that borderline impossible to believe.

At the same time, there's something truly hilarious about the military asking random civilians for help finding a plane that costs nearly $100 million. It doesn't exactly scream competence.

You better believe that I'd be searching around the clock if I was in the region. Grab a six pack of light beer, get the boys together and go on the greatest scavenger hunt in South Carolina history.

The military is on the hunt for a missing F-35 in South Carolina. (Photo by Cpl. Francisco J. Diaz Jr./U.S. Marine Corps via Getty Images)

Let's just hope the military finds the missing F-35 before any nefarious forces might. It's hard to put into words how important our stealth tech gap is to national security. A missing F-35 is a HUGE problem.