Japan says missing F-15 fighter probably crashed, crew missing | Military News
Two crew members remain unaccounted for as search and rescue team recover part of the fighter jet’s fuselage.
A missing Japanese F-15 fighter jet is believed to have crashed and its two crew members remain unaccounted for, according to the defence ministry.
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force jet disappeared from air traffic control radars on Monday shortly after takeoff, about 5km (3 miles) from Komatsu Airbase on the Sea of Japan coast, which has two tactical fighter squadrons, the ministry said on Tuesday.
Public service broadcaster NHK quoted Japanese officials as saying that the F-15 fighter jet did not send an emergency signal before it went missing, and that they had received no calls reporting irregularities or rescue signals.
According to the report, officials believe flight conditions “deteriorated rapidly” giving the two-person crew no time to respond.
Speaking to reporters, defence minister Nobuo Kishi dismissed an early media report that one of the pilots had been found.
Search and rescue helicopters and three coastguard ships continued their search after earlier finding aircraft debris in the sea, the Japan Coast Guard said in a press release.
“As part of the fuselage of the fighter jet was discovered in the area, the fighter jet is believed to have crashed,” top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Tuesday.
The spokesman said “all efforts” were being made to locate the missing crew members.
Most of the F-15 jets flown by Japan were built under licence by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and have been Japan’s mainstay front-line fighter for four decades, regularly scrambling to respond to Chinese and Russian aircraft probing the country’s airspace.
Japan has some 200 F-15s, half of which will be upgraded by Boeing to extend their operating life and improve capability.
Most of Japan’s F-15s are single-seat aircraft, with the two-seater variant used for training.
In 2019, a Japanese Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter on a training mission crashed into the Pacific Ocean after its pilot is thought to have experienced spatial disorientation.
