One of many Navy’s Superior Digital Warfare Jets Has Crashed in Washington

The U.S. Navy is trying to find two missing crew members after their EA-18G Growler jet crashed close to Mount Rainier on Tuesday evening. In line with early studies from the Navy, the Growler was flying close to the mountain throughout a routine coaching flight when it crashed at 3:23 p.m.

“A number of search and rescue belongings, together with a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter, launched from NAS Whidbey Island to find the crew and look at the crash web site. As of seven p.m. on Oct. 15, the standing of the 2 crew members stays unknown,” the Navy mentioned in a press release.

The crashed Growler was a part of an digital warfare unit and a part of the Digital Assault Squadron 130 primarily based out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. Nicknamed the “Zappers,” the squadron had just lately returned from the Purple Sea the place it flew 700 combat missions in opposition to the Houthis. The Growler survived tons of of missions capturing down drones solely to be felled throughout a coaching mission again residence.

The reason for the crash stays unknown and Growlers haven’t gained a fame for crashing and technical issues just like the V-22 Osprey and the F-35 joint strike fighter. The Growler crash is the newest in an extended line of latest aviation mishaps for the U.S. army. Lots of the crashes contain new and technologically superior plane just like the V-22 and F-35.

The V-22 is a tiltrotor plane that may land and take off like a helicopter after which tilt its rotors to fly like a aircraft. Its distinctive design has brought on issues. Final yr, the Pentagon grounded its complete fleet of V-22s following a high-profile crash in November that killed eight airmen. In August of that yr, one other V-22 crashed in Australia and killed three Marines.

In 2022, a V-22 crash killed 5 Marines in Glamis, California. In March, 4 Marines died throughout a NATO coaching train in Norway when the V-22 they have been in crashed. In 2015, two Marines died throughout one other accident involving the V-22.

The F-35, America’s trillion-dollar boondoggle, can also be liable to crashing. In September of 2023, one of many superior fighter jets went lacking within the skies over South Carolina. The Pentagon begged the public to assist discover it. The pilot had safely ejected however the jet was on autopilot. The DoD later found the remains of the factor two hours north of Charleston.

An F-35 shot itself within the skies over Arizona in 2021. In 2022, folks filmed an F-35 crashing on a runway in Fort Price, Texas. The identical yr, a software program glitch brought on one to crash in Utah. Extra dramatic video from an plane provider in 2022 leaked online displaying one crash because it got here in for a touchdown. In Might 2020, an F-35 landed so onerous on a runway that it rolled, caught hearth, and was completely destroyed.

The listing of F-35 and V-22 accidents goes on, that’s only a small sampling. The Growler, in contrast, has a fairly spotless document. In 2018, an Australian Growler burst into flames on a runway forward of a coaching train, however that’s the one high-profile catastrophe involving the jets thus far.