EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) -- An F-22 Raptor jet fighter crashed Wednesday in the high desert of Southern California, Air Force officials said. Rescue crews were en route to the crash site and the status of the pilot was not immediately known, said Air Force Maj. David Small at the Pentagon.The two-engine stealth jet, which was on a test mission, crashed six miles north of the base on Harbor Dry Lakebed, Small said. The plane is flown by a single pilot.
The $140 million supersonic F-22 is the force's new top-of-the-line fighter. The U.S. military has committed to 183 of the jets, down from a plan in the 1980s to build 750.