A U.S. Navy F-35 fighter jet crashed near Naval Air Station Lemoore in central California on Wednesday, military officials confirmed.
“At 1830 [6:30 p.m. PDT], an F-35C attached to the VFA-125 Rough Raiders went down not far from NAS Lemoore,” the base said in a statement. “We can confirm the pilot successfully ejected and is safe. There are no additional affected personnel.”
Officials did not say what the aircraft was being used for before it crashed. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
Video captured by KFSN-TV in Fresno showed flames and thick, black smoke billowing up from the crash site in what appeared to be farmland as fire crews worked to put it out.
Naval Air Station Lemoore is located in Kings County and Fresno County, California, about 40 miles south of the city of Fresno.
The F-35C is built specifically for Navy carrier operations. The U.S. Air Force flies the F-35A, while the Marine Corps uses the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant, the F-35B.
Each F-35C costs about $100 million.
The U.S. military has lost a number of F-35s to crashes over the years. In January, an F-35A crashed near Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska during a training flight due to an “in-flight emergency.” The pilot ejected safely.
