The Safeguard-class rescue and salvage ship USNS Salvor prepares to moor pier side at Sembawang Naval Instillation during a regularly scheduled port visit to Singapore on August 3, 2023. Petty Officer 1st Class Heath Zeigler/US Navy

The US Navy is trying to recover two aircraft from the bottom of the South China Sea that US experts say could yield sensitive information to China if Beijing were to get to them first.

The aircraft – an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet and an MH-60 helicopter – crashed within 30 minutes of each other while operating off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during routine operations in late October.

No official cause has been given for the crashes, but US President Donald Trump suggested to reporters shortly after the incidents that contaminated fuel may be to

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