WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- An F-35B fighter jet crashed Friday in the U.S. state of South Carolina, a first for the model.

The crash occurred near Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. The pilot ejected before the crash and is being evaluated for injury, according to a statement from the U.S. Marine Corps.

The statement said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

The incident marks the first time that an F-35 fighter jet, which costs more than 100 million U.S. dollars, has crashed.

The crash came one day after the first airstrike conducted by a U.S. F-35 fighter jet over Afghanistan, and hours after the Pentagon announced that it had awarded Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of F-35, with a new batch of F-35s.

The F-35 stealth jet has three variants -- F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C --designed for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy respectively. The F-35B is the only model with short take-off and vertical landing abilities.??