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In 2021, an F35 Lightning II from the Royal Navy carrier Queen Elizabeth crashed into the sea on take-off. It was later reported that the aircraft was recovered from a mile below the Mediterranean. Has there been any further public information about how the aircraft was recovered, what equipment was used, and whether the whole aircraft was raised or just the sensitive equipment that they carry?

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    $\begingroup$ The recovery was likely done the same way the other F-35 in the South China sea was recovered. There are pictures of the recovered aircraft here: theaviationist.com/2022/01/21/photo-recovered-f-35b-wreckage $\endgroup$
    – Juan Jimenez
    Commented Jul 12, 2023 at 16:13
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    $\begingroup$ The aircraft blackbox on most US navy aircraft have a transponder that shows a general location. $\endgroup$
    – VFA-34
    Commented Aug 21 at 23:22

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The report on the incident came out last year, it has detailed information on the full event and shows the recovery process in detail.

Shortly after impacting the sea BK-18 sank in approximately 2,000m of water. A UK led salvage operation was conducted using chartered vessels. The aircraft was discovered, by remotely operated vehicle, inverted on the seabed, intact with a few minor parts such as the ejection seat detached but close to the airframe. The salvage operation recovered the aircraft, as well as all of the detached items and then transported them back to the UK. The CSMU had a sonar locator beacon to assist with recovery of the flight data recorder in the event of loss in water. The beacon was not detected during the search and recovery.

Full report can be found here

So to your question,

what equipment was used, and whether the whole aircraft was raised or just the sensitive equipment that they carry?

They recovered the full aircraft.

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks! It looks like the specifics of the salvage process are classified and unlikely to be published in full, but that report gives lots of other interesting details. $\endgroup$
    – DrMcCleod
    Commented Sep 1 at 21:13

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