A Navy F-35 crashed close to Naval Air Station Lemoore, in central California on Wednesday evening around 6:30 p.m. local. Fortunately the pilot ejected and is safe, base officials announced on Facebook.

The aircraft was assigned to the VFA-125 Rough Raiders, which is tasked with training pilots on the Navy’s F-35C variant. See video of the crash’s fiery aftermath via a clip posted to social media, here .

The crash was the second for an F-35 since late January when an A-variant crashed at Alaska’s Eielson Air Force Base. An F-35B crashed in New Mexico in May 2024, though the pilot was injured in that incident. Review additional reported F-35 crashes, involving both the U.S. and allies’ aircraft going back to 2014, here .

The aircraft, which rings in at about $100 million pe

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