2020 • On 19 May 2020, a USAF F-35A (tail number 12-5053) from the
58th Fighter Squadron crashed while landing at Eglin AFB. The pilot ejected and was rescued in stable condition. The accident was attributed to a combination of pilot error induced by fatigue, a design issue with the oxygen system, the aircraft's complex and distracting nature, a malfunctioning head-mounted display, and an unresponsive
flight control system. • On 29 September 2020, a USMC F-35B (tail number 169294) crashed in
Imperial County, California, after colliding with a Marine Corps
KC-130 during
air-to-air refuelling. The F-35B pilot was injured in the ejection, and the KC-130 crash-landed in a field without deploying its landing gear.
2021 • On 17 November 2021, a Royal Air Force
617 Squadron F-35B (tail number ZM152) crashed during routine operations in the Mediterranean. The pilot was safely recovered to
HMS Queen Elizabeth. The wreckage, including all security sensitive equipment, was largely recovered with the assistance of U.S. and Italian forces. The crash was determined to have been caused by an engine-blanking plug left in the intake.
2022 • On 4 January 2022, a South Korean Air Force F-35A (tail number 20-017) made a
belly landing after all systems failed except the flight controls and the engine. The pilot heard a series of bangs during low-altitude flight, and various systems stopped working. The control tower suggested that the pilot eject, but he managed to land the plane without deploying the landing gear, walking away uninjured. • On 24 January 2022, a USN F-35C (tail number 169304) with
VFA-147 suffered a
ramp strike while landing on the and was lost overboard in the
South China Sea. Seven crew members were injured, while the pilot ejected safely and was recovered from the water. On 2 March 2022, the aircraft was recovered from a depth of about with the aid of a remotely operated vehicle (
ROV) and DSCV
Picasso, a deep-diving ship. • On 19 October 2022, an F-35A (tail number 15-5197) crashed at the north end of the runway at
Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The pilot safely ejected and was unharmed. The crash was caused by errors in the air data system from the
wake turbulence of a preceding aircraft, which resulted in several rapid transitions between the primary and backup flight-conditions data sources. These rapid transitions caused the accumulation of reset values, leading the flight control laws to operate on inaccurate flight-conditions data, leading to departure from controlled flight. • On 15 December 2022, an F-35B (tail number 170061) crashed during a failed vertical landing at
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in Texas. The government test pilot ejected on the ground and was not seriously injured. The aircraft was undergoing production test flying and had not yet been delivered by the manufacturer to the U.S. military.
2023 • On 17 September 2023, an F-35B (tail number 169591) crashed after the pilot ejected from his jet over
North Charleston, South Carolina following a mishap during a training flight out of MCAS Beaufort. While the pilot was unharmed, the fighter was not located for about 30 hours. The fighter's wreckage was found on the evening of 18 September 2023. crashed shortly after takeoff from
Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The pilot ejected and was reportedly injured.
2025 • On 28 January 2025, an F-35A (tail number 19-5535) crashed at
Eielson Air Force Base 20 miles south of Fairbanks in interior Alaska. The pilot was reported uninjured. On 26 August 2025 an Air Force investigation revealed that the pilot spent 50 minutes on a conference call with Lockheed Martin engineers starting soon after take-off. Freezing temperatures (-18C) had caused the hydraulic fluid to freeze and rupture the hydraulic lines including those to the landing gear. One third of the hydraulic systems in both the nose and the right main landing gear was found to have been contaminated with water. The US Air Force's accident investigation board concluded that a lack of oversight for the distribution of the hydraulic fluid, inadequate aircraft hydraulics servicing procedures, and the crew's decision-making, including the engineers on the call, all contributed to the crash. • On 30 July 2025, A US Navy F-35C fighter jet assigned to
Strike Fighter Squadron 125, known as the “
Rough Raiders,” crashed in
central California near
Naval Air Station Lemoore, according to an US Navy press statement. The pilot ejected safely while the cause of the crash, which occurred around 6:30 pm, is being investigated.
2026 • On 19 March 2026, a US F-35 made an emergency landing at a
Middle East airbase during the
2026 Iran war.
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the
US Central Command, said that the stealth jet had been “flying a combat mission over Iran”, adding that "the aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition." Iran released purported footage of the incident. • On 31 March 2026, a US F-35 was lost in the Nevada Test and Training Range in Southern Nevada, while on a training mission from
Nellis Air Force Base. The pilot ejected and is reportedly safe after sustaining only minor injuries. ==References==