Last week, a U.S. Navy F-35C fighter jet crashed in central California near Naval Air Station Lemoore. The $100 million aircraft went down in farmland southwest of Fresno, igniting a fire and sending thick black smoke into the air. The pilot ejected safely and received medical attention on-site. This marks the second F-35 crash in 2025 alone — an Air Force F-35A went down during a training flight in Alaska back in January.

Notably, the crashed F-35 had been pieced together from salvaged parts of two other wrecked F-35 Lightning II fighters. Despite its cutting-edge technology, including stealth capabilities and multirole functionality, the F-35 continues to struggle with operational issues. A Pentagon report released in January 2025 revealed that all three F-35 variants still fall short of reliability, maintainability, and mission-capable rate requirements.

According to F-16.net’s database, at least 20 F-35 incidents—including accidents, fires, and crashes — have occurred between 2014 and 2024. The alarming accident rate has raised concerns not only among military officials but also taxpayers, given the program’s staggering cost, estimated in the hundreds of billions.

While the F-35 remains officially the ‘cornerstone’ of U.S. combat aviation, each new incident erodes confidence in its reliability—with potential consequences that go beyond financial losses to strategic implications.