TOKYO: Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a crashed Japanese F-35 stealth fighter in the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, and are scouring the waters for the missing pilot, authorities said on Wednesday.
The aircraft, less than a year old, was the first F-35 assembled in Japan and was aloft for only 28 minutes on Tuesday before contact was lost, a defence official said. The plane had logged a total of 280 hours in the air, he added.
It was only the second F-35 to crash since the aircraft’s first flight in 2006 and could reignite concern about the F-35 having only one engine.
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin is competing for orders in Finland and Switzerland against the twin-engined Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18E/F jet.
The accident could influence Switzerland’s decision, but Finland could still pick the F-35 as it is close to Russia, said Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
The advanced, single-seat jet disappeared in good weather about 135 km east of the Misawa air base in Aomori prefecture at about 7:27 pm (1027 GMT), the Air Self Defence Force said.
“We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35,” a spokesman said.
Eight ships and seven aircraft, including a US Navy P-8 Orion maritime patrol plane, joined the search and rescue effort.
The aircraft was leading three F-35s on training manoeuvres when it sent an “aborting practice” signal and disappeared from radar, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters.
The pilot, who had 3,200 hours of flying time, but had spent only 60 hours in the F-35, gave no other indication he was in trouble, the ASDF spokesman said.
“We’ll need to cooperate with the US forces and I believe arrangements are being made,” Iwaya said, adding that the cause of the incident would have to be determined.
The crashed aircraft was the fifth delivered to the ASDF, but the first assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, a second ASDF official said. Japan’s 12 remaining F-35s are grounded for now,
he added. — Reuters
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