F-22 fighter jet worth $150M crashes just outside Florida airbase during a routine training mission

A pilot successfully ejected from a US Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet that crashed during a training flight in Florida Friday, military authorities say. 

The $150million F-22 was part of the 325th Fighter Wing based at Eglin Air Force base in northern Florida, about 40 miles east of Pensacola.

The crash took place around 9:15am northeast of the base on a training range, and there was no damage to people or property when the jet hit the ground, the Air Force says.

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An Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet similar to the one shown here at Eglin Air Force base crashed at the Florida base on Friday

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Eglin Air Force Base is located in northern Florida, about 40 miles east of Pensacola

The sprawling Eglin reservation covers hundreds of thousands of acres across Northwest Florida, USA Today reports.

No explanation was given for the crash.    

The pilot was taken to the Eglin base hospital for observation. He was in stable condition in the company of friends and family.

It was not immediately clear whether the crash caused any fire on the ground. Wildfires have consumed hundreds of acres in recent days and remain a threat due to hot, dry and windy conditions.

The F-22 flight was not part of a flyover scheduled Friday morning to honor frontline workers battling the coronavirus outbreak, an Air Force spokesperson tells USA Today.

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A F-22 Raptor fighter jet flies at the 2008 Joint Services Open House airshow at Andrews Air Force Base

The crash prompted Eglin base officials to recall four jets that were already in the air for the flyover, says a spokesman from Tyndall Air Force Base, which is about 90 miles south near Panama City.

The aircraft that crashed and those in the flyover – another F-22 along with an F-35 fighter jet and two T-38 training jets – are among aircraft originally assigned to Tyndall.  

The jets were moved to Eglin before and after Hurricane Michael in 2018, which left Tyndall in ruins. 

Friday's crash means that the Air Force now has only 185 F-22 Raptors left of the 195 aircraft built by Lockheed Martin, according to Forbes. 

With the way the Air Force has distributed their remaining F-22s - including those used for training and test planes - this now leaves 17 of the stealth fighter jets as 'backup' planes. 

Prior accidents in 2004, 2009 and 2010 destroyed three F-22s, while other jets were taken out of service due to old age of the airframes.  

Each F-22 costs about $150million and the overall cost to develop, produce and upgrade the fighter jets was $67billion. The jets were built between the mid-1990s and December 2011. 

Defense officials decided not to reorder the Raptors, leaving the Air Force to start acquiring F-15s from Boeing in 2020, after a 16-year break. 

F-22s are considered so top secret that all of its cockpit instruments and displays are classified, so no photos of its interior have been confirmed. 

Unlike other fighter jets, US officials banned the sale of F-22s to other countries, including allies, in 1998, as a way to prevent the stealth technology from being obtained by Russia and China. 

The crashed aircraft and those in a  flyover that was to take place Friday – another F-22 along with an F-35 fighter jet and two T-38 training jets – are among aircraft originally assigned to Tyndall Air Force Base, which was left in ruins (pictured) after Hurricane Michael