The U.S. military made Sunday an unusual call to the public to help it locate a missing multimillion-dollar F-35 jet.

The stealth-capable U.S. fighter jet vanished after what authorities labeled a "mishap" and the pilot flying the aircraft in the southern state of South Carolina ejected.

The pilot survived, but the military was left with an expensive problem: it couldn't find the jet, leading Joint Base Charleston to ask for help from local residents.

"If you have any information that may help our recovery teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center," a post from the base read on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Base authorities said they were searching, in coordination with federal aviation regulators, around two lakes north of the city of Charleston.

The planes, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, cost around $80 million each.