On Tuesday, a fighter jet went down near the US air base in Spangdahlem, Germany.
The incident occurred at around 2:30 p.m. local time (12:30 UTC), and investigators are still determining the cause.
U.S. officials identified the aircraft as an F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 52nd Fighter Wing, adding that the pilot ejected safely.
“The pilot ejected safely and is receiving medical care,” the base said in a statement.
Local officials in the Eifel region confirmed that one person sustained injuries.
“Following a plane crash in the vicinity of US Air Base Spangdahlem, fire and emergency response teams from the Eifel District of Bitburg-Prüm were dispatched to the scene,” the district said on its website.
“No comments can be made on the further details of the event from the side of the Eifel district at this time.”
A NATO operations center
Spangdahlem Air Base, a NATO operations hub constructed in the early 1950s, hosts the U.S. Air Force’s 52nd Fighter Wing, which operates a squadron of roughly 20 F-16 fighters.
Situated north of Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, the base lies just west of the Luxembourg border.
The installation ranks among the most strategically significant U.S. airfields in Germany, comparable to Ramstein Air Base near Kaiserslautern.
Approximately 5,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel, plus their dependents, are stationed at Spangdahlem, along with about 700 to 800 German employees.
