Wreckage of crashed Japanese F-35 fighter jet found, as search for missing pilot continues
- Japan’s first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at the Misawa airbase
- The government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernise its air defences
Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a crashed Japanese F-35 jet in the Pacific Ocean, 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.
Japan fitting F-35 fighters with advanced missile system brings it ‘much closer to targets’
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.
“I would be surprised if there was a common catastrophic fault hidden away in the F-35A,” he added. “It’s pretty unlikely given the large number of flight hours already completed.”
The advanced, single-seat jet disappeared in good weather about 135km east of the Misawa air base in Aomori prefecture at about 7.27pm , the Air Self Defense Force said.