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

The U.S. Navy is looking for two missing crew members after their EA-18G Growler jet crashed close to Mount Rainier on Tuesday evening. Based on 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 stated in an announcement.

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 Crimson Sea the place it flew 700 combat missions in opposition to the Houthis. The Growler survived a whole bunch 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 status for crashing and technical issues just like the V-22 Osprey and the F-35 joint strike fighter. The Growler crash is the most recent in a protracted line of latest aviation mishaps for the U.S. army. Most 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 precipitated issues. Final 12 months, the Pentagon grounded its complete fleet of V-22s following a high-profile crash in November that killed eight airmen. In August of that 12 months, 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 susceptible 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, individuals filmed an F-35 crashing on a runway in Fort Price, Texas. The identical 12 months, a software program glitch precipitated 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 Could 2020, an F-35 landed so arduous on a runway that it rolled, caught fireplace, and was completely destroyed.

The record 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 so far.