News Analysis An American military F-35C jet, which was full of classified equipment, recently crashed into the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy is racing to reach the wreckage before the Chinese get to it first, for fears of the technology being copied and reverse engineered. A $100 million U.S. Navy F-35C jet came down in the South China Sea after a “mishap,” which occurred during takeoff from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson on Jan. 24. As the plane crashed into international waters, it is technically fair game for China’s People’s Liberation (PLA) Navy to recover the plane and extract its secrets. The U.S. Navy is keeping the exact location secret as well as the timeframe needed to recover the plane from the seafloor, but it appears that a U.S. salvage vessel is a few days away from the crash site. The black box is expected to run out …