Navy Helicopter And Fighter Jet Crashes In South China Sea Under Investigation As Trump Visits Asia
on Oct 27, 2025
All Pilots And Crew Members Were Reportedly Rescued From The Crashes
On Monday, Oct. 27, President Donald Trump arrived in Japan for the second stop on his diplomatic trip to Asia.
The trip began with a visit to Malaysia, and it will conclude with a visit to South Korea, though Trump has expressed interest in meeting with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un while in the region.
While China is not one of the three, or potentially four, stops on his visit to Asia, it has been a key topic of discussion for many reasons.
Among those reasons, on Sunday, Oct. 26, a United States Navy helicopter and a Navy fighter jet crashed in separate incidents in the South China Sea.
All five personnel aboard these aircraft were rescued, and the crashes are under investigation.
More About The Crashes
Flying from the USS Nimitz, the Navy helicopter and Navy fighter jet both reportedly crashed within 30 minutes of one another on October 26.
The first crash occurred at approximately 2:45 p.m., according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which shared the news to its account on X, formerly Twitter.
Noting that the helicopter is a “U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, assigned to the ‘Battle Cats’ of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 73,” the U.S. Pacific Fleet said the crash happened during “routine operations.”
The three personnel aboard were rescued.
Lockheed Martin, which develops these helicopters, says the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter “brings transformational anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities to navies around the world.”
South China Sea – On October 26, 2025 at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time, a U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, assigned to the “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 73 went down in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations
— U.S. Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) October 26, 2025
Within the next 30 minutes, an F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 22 also crashed.
Both individuals aboard the jet were rescued by “search and rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11.”
Noting that the incidents are “currently under investigation,” the U.S. Pacific Fleet added, “All personnel involved are safe and in stable condition.”
All personnel involved are safe and in stable condition.
— U.S. Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) October 26, 2025
The cause of both incidents is currently under investigation.
According to the Associated Press, the USS Nimitz is on its final deployment before being decommissioned.
Asked about the crashes, President Donald Trump attributed the incidents to reports he received of “bad fuel,” noting there was “nothing to hide” of the circumstances under which these aircraft crashed.
Notably, the contested nation of Taiwan is between the East and South China Seas.
About Trump’s Visit To Asia
Following two trips to the Middle East this year, as well as a visit to the United Kingdom, this diplomatic trip to Asia is the first visit to the region that Trump has made in his second term.
There, he signed a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, which were engaged in a hostile territorial dispute from May 28 through July 28.
Their conflict ended with a U.S.-brokered peace deal.
While Trump will not be visiting China during his trip, he will be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, Oct. 30, in Seoul, South Korea.
This summit comes after the U.S. and China have agreed to the “framework” of a trade deal, which was arrived at after two days of negotiations, according to U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent in an Oct. 26 interview on Meet The Press.
While the trip to Asia is scheduled to end this week in South Korea, Trump has said that he could possibly extend the trip to meet with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
“I’d love to meet with him, if he’d like to meet,” said Trump, as quoted by NBC News. “I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him, he liked me.”
On June 30, 2019, Trump became the first president to set foot in North Korea.
Joining Trump for a one-day summit, Kim Jong Un and then South Korean President Moon Jae-in engaged in dialogue mediated by the United States.
This dialogue was followed by not only Trump walking through the demilitarized zone between the two nations to briefly enter North Korea, but it also saw Jong Un step into South Korea.
Talks of unifying the Korean peninsula were significant in 2019, but little progress has been made between the warring nation states since.
Meanwhile, there is uncertainty stateside amid the U.S. government shutdown, which has entered its 27th day as of Oct. 27.
This is a developing story.
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