Japanese military discovers possible debris of fighter jet after F-35 goes missing – reports
Japan’s military has reportedly found what appears to be debris from the F-35A fighter jet that disappeared from radar with one pilot on board during a training mission over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday evening.
The Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) says it has found what could be debris from the F-35A plane that lost radar contact with ground control at Misawa Air Base during a routine training mission off the coast of Aomori Prefecture on Tuesday, broadcaster NHK reports. Coast Guard and Self-Defense Forces have been searching for the plane since it vanished. The fighter jet was flying with three others of the same make about 135km off the coast.
Also on rt.com Japanese F-35 fighter jet ‘disappears from radar’ over Pacific
Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya grounded the Air Self-Defense Force’s entire fleet of F-35As as a precaution after the aircraft went missing at about 7:30pm local time, half an hour after taking off. At the same time the fighter disappeared from radar screens, ground control also lost all radio contact with the plane.
The craft that vanished was reportedly the first F-35A to be built at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries facility in Nagoya. In December, Japan announced its plans to place an order for 105 more F-35s from the US on top of the 42 it had already bought – a deal which would make Japan the largest international buyer of the troubled plane.
The F-35 is notoriously considered the most expensive US military program of all time, and a 2018 report by the Project on Government Oversight claimed that senior officials involved in developing the aircraft concealed dangerous flaws in its design instead of fixing them in order to avoid paying cost overruns on what was already an enormously expensive project. A 2018 Government Accountability Office report showed the plane had 111 Category One deficiencies that severely restricted its combat readiness, posing the risk of death, severe injury, loss or major damage.
A February report from the Pentagon further revealed that some of the F-35s’ lifespan is nearly four times shorter than expected, and the firing accuracy of the fighter’s guns is “unacceptable.” Worse, the number of operation-ready planes remained below 60 percent, and previously-uncovered cybersecurity “vulnerabilities” were still wide open.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
Comments are closed.