Republican lawmakers are mocking the Biden administration after a pilot ejected from an F-35 on Sunday and sent the military scrambling to find the fighter jet in South Carolina.
“How on earth did the Biden Administration lose track of an $80 million F-35 jet?” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “What else are they losing?”
The pilot is safe, but the jet is still missing as of Monday afternoon. Joint Base Charleston said they are searching north of the base near two lakes between the cities of Charleston and Columbia.
Joint Base Charleston said it has connected with federal, state and local agencies as it hunts for the missing aircraft and has also asked the public for help finding the jet.
“This is what happens when military leaders are more focused on woke ideology than actually running a competent military,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrote on X, repeating a common criticism from the GOP that the Biden administration is too focused on progressive policies in the military.
The missing aircraft is an F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter jet, which was assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, an east coast aviation unit.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), whose home state is frantically searching for the jet, asked “how in the hell do you lose an F-35?”
“Is it any wonder the Pentagon can’t pass an audit?” Mace wrote on X.
The missing jet has sparked a frenzy of trolling and memes on social media, with commentators posting mock pictures of a help-wanted poster to find the F-35 and jokes about other countries stealing it from the U.S.
It’s still unclear why the pilot had to eject, but officials at Joint Base Charleston said there was a “mishap” during the flight.