One week after the F-35A stealth fighter jet crashed off the northeast coast of Japan, US (US) military ships and Japan struggled to find the wreckage. The aim is to protect the secrets of valuable technology from Russia and China.
The Japanese fighter jet vanished from radar monitoring on April 9 in the Pacific Ocean while carrying out a training mission with three other aircraft in the region about 135 km east of Misawa, northeast of Japan.
A Defense Ministry spokesman told AFP that the remains of the fighter jet had been found, but they were still hunting to find the remainder of the fuselage and the pilot.
"On average, two planes, including helicopters, and two patrol boats were constantly deployed in a 24-hour search operation," said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force also sent unmanned submarines.
Separately, the US military has sent a military aircraft and one ship to join the mission.
Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said the accident would be discussed at a meeting with his US counterpart in Washington on Friday (04/19/2019), which would also involve the foreign ministers of both countries.
Japan's first F-35 squadron has just been operating at Misawa air base. The country's government plans to buy 87 stealth warplanes to modernize its air defense as China's military power grows.
"The F-35A is an aircraft that contains a large number of secrets that need to be protected," Iwaya told reporters, as quoted by the Straits Times, Tuesday (04/16/2019).
