The £100 million worth warplane was retrieved after a seven-day top-secret salvage operation by British, Italian, and US navies crews to keep the aircraft and its sophisticated radar and sensors out of the hands of Russian forces. "Operations to recover the United Kingdom F-35 in the Mediterranean Sea have been completed," the Ministry said, adding that "there is no danger or compromise to sensitive equipment on the aircraft." The jet was believed to be more than a mile underwater after crashing off the runway of HMS Queen Elizabeth last month during routine flying operations. According to leaked footage, the F-35B jet crashed into the sea for unknown reasons without ever taking off, and the pilot ejected safely.