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$150 Million Fighter Jet Whooped By Bees

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The $150 million F-22 is “the world’s most dominant fighter,” according to Lockheed Martin, but the fighter jet met its aerial match earlier this summer in the form of 20,000 bees.

The massive swarm took refuge on the F-22’s exhaust nozzle and caused mass panic on Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia June 11. Airmen on the base initially were going to destroy the swarm, but decided to call in a beekeeper.

“The honey bees most likely came from a much larger bee hive somewhere else on base,” Beekeeper and Chief Master Sergeant Gregg Allen told the public affairs unit at Joint Base Langley-Eustis.

Allen continued, “Bee hives are constantly growing and they eventually become overcrowded. Around springtime, the bees will make a new queen, scout for a new location and take half of the hive with them to that location.”

When local beekeeper Andy Westrich removed the bees into several buckets, he found the entire swarm weighed nearly eight pounds, according to Thursday reports. Westrich speculated that the bees were on their way to build a new hive for their queen, but the queen got tired mid-flight and decided to just land on the F-22.

The bees will now be used to produce honey for a local brewery where they will be able to “maintain the honey bee colony and use the honey for their production facility.”

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