The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) information warfare machine went into overdrive after US Stealth Fighter F-35C had a landing mishap on January 24 during flight operations on Supercarrier Carl Vinson while patrolling South China Sea. The USS Carl Vinson along with USS Abraham Lincoln and two landing ships are involved in freedom of navigation operations with the motive of deterring Chinese PLA from attacking Taiwan by taking advantage of US-Russia crisis over Ukraine.
Several analysts with so-called think tanks were quoted in the propaganda media as saying that the F-35C accident exposed the exhaustion of the US military, which has been flaunting its prowess against China at the cost of the physical and mental health of its troops and high technical risks. While the pilot of the crashed F-35C was recovered safely, the US Navy is involved in salvaging operation of the stealth fighter lest the Chinese reach there first and copy the latest war fighting technology.
While the Chinese media may pass caustic comments on US aircraft carrier operations, fact is that fighter accidents onboard aircraft carriers are part and parcel of flight operations.
