Better find it quick. I'll bet most of the Russian and North korean trawlers that can move are headed that way.

Story on NHK-Japan news


Japanese defense officials are searching for a fighter jet off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan. They lost contact while it was on a training mission.

Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said, "At around 19:27 Tuesday, an F-35A from the Air Self-Defense Force Misawa air base lost radar contact 135 kilometers east of the coast during training."

Iwaya said the one pilot on board is missing. Officials say the jet was flying with three other planes of the same model, and there were no reports of problems before contact was lost.

The Self-Defense Forces and the Coast Guard have dispatched patrol aircraft and ships to search for the jet.

The F-35 was jointly developed by the United States and eight other countries. Its stealth capabilities make it difficult to detect by radar.

Thirteen F-35As are currently based at Misawa Air Base. It's set to become Japan's next-generation mainstay fighter.

Iwaya says the other 12 jets will be grounded for the time being.

I could be wrong but I believe these are Japanese territorial waters between Honshu and Hokkaido Islands.

That sucks, hope the pilot was able to eject, but considering it happened 10+ hours ago, not likely.

I'm thinking the plane is now in the hands of the Chinese

Why the hell did they announce the lost plane? It would have taken Russia and China a while to figure out why US and Japanese Navy are searching the seas. Why give them a head start on the search?

Well first of all, a plane smacking in the ocean at 400+ isn't going to leave much to find. Likely an oil slick and maybe a tad bit of wreckage, if that.

And it's only a matter of time before something like this happened (assuming he didn't fly away and defect, that is).

Dont the export versions of the F35 contain less high end tech than the US version? I would think if it went into the drink there wouldnt be much left to go over.

Japanese territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles off their coast (about 14 regular miles).

Contact with this fighter was lost at ~84 miles east of Japan (so, the other side of the island from China).

This is northern Japan, so to fly from east of Aomori Prefecture to the nearest point in the PRC, the F35A would have to go through Japanese air defense, and cross either North Korean territory, or Russian territory to get to China.

Though on paper, a fully-fueled F35A could make to from Japan to China, I doubt that the Japanese would entrust their newest and most sophisticated fighters to someone who was not politically reliable.

It's much more likely that the plane crashed in the Pacific ocean. In which case, 心からお悔やみ申し上げます to the family of the pilot.

When it comes to diving, salvage, and recovery the US Navy still rules the oceans. I would be very surprised if we don’t recover the aircraft very soon. Reuters claims we’re already on it.

Tail and parts found.

Crash-area is EAST of Japan so, before everyone gets all worked-up about the ChiComs, Norks or, Ruskies that area is for all-intents, Japanese territory. Yes, yes, 12-nm is territorial waters however, with their robust fishing fleet and solid coast guard, no doubt the area is crawling with Japanes assets and maybe a US sub to keep any underwater lurkers at-bay. Which would make for some interesting scenarios as patrol craft I'm sure are keeping their ears and eyes open to see how the PLAN reacts.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
That sucks, hope the pilot was able to eject, but considering it happened 10+ hours ago, not likely.

Yep.

I have been involved in recovery, one F-4E crashed doing touch and goes on return to base from an out and back with a 3 ship. The other two jets did full stops, and the mishap jet was doing his last go around, head 190 out over the gulf, south of Destin and dropped off radar shortly thereafter.

Oil slick and debris were spotted shortly after and recovery staged.

Wreckage was underwater and divers and barge aided in recovery, then wreckage was taken off barge, transported by trucks to a hanger for identification, layout, cataloging and inspection.

(will not go into crew remains, as not relevant).

The F-4E is a very robust airframe, and their have been some incredible survival stories of severely damaged F-4s flying and recovering when one would think they were not longer airworthy, as well as some that had very bad landing mishaps.

The aircraft that hit the water, did so in a rate half turn at approx 230-250 KIAS throttles were set at 80% military and aircraft impacted the water at near wings level (aircrew attempted recovery) 30 degrees nose low and stabs were at full pitch up. (from report).

What we recovered was recognizable only due to familiarity with the aircraft type/model.

It was a mess of tangled wiring, and components were badly damaged. Larger sections of the aircraft were limited to a couple of flight control surfaces, some skin/panels, parts of the 370 wing tanks, inboard pylons, landing gear struts, and wheel/tire/brake assembly, canopy and fuel cell bladders, instrument panels longerons, ribs and such.

But nothing that looked like an aircraft, and even knowing the components, not a lot of "intelligence" information would be gleaned.

As for "intemegence comprmised", given the age of the technology used, and time since the aircraft has been around, that curve has flattened considerably.

More of a concern would be espionage of aircraft/intel Turkey has, as well as the many parts made by Turkey that and at least one part that is only made by Turkey, than someone getting there hands on any of the JASDF F-35.

And the place it went down is about a mile deep, and the area has been secured.

Turkey has two F-35's that have been delivered. Turkey will give everything to the Russians in good time.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

And it's only a matter of time before something like this happened (assuming he didn't fly away and defect, that is).

That's a big assumption.

Coming from Hokkaido, a sort of Viktor Belenko, in reverse.

I'd be more interested in the Russian ships steaming away...

They’ve found the crash site; barring someone have gotten there first and spirited anything away, nobody will get close that shouldn’t be.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47876128

Turkey currently has two F-35As at Luke Air Force Base and two other aircraft are in final preparations to go to Luke. "The first two aircraft are currently scheduled to arrive in the country in November. They may not get them since agreeing to purchase the Russian S-400 AAC system.

quote:

Originally posted by gw3971:
Turkey has two F-35's that have been delivered. Turkey will give everything to the Russians in good time.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

And it's only a matter of time before something like this happened (assuming he didn't fly away and defect, that is).

That's a big assumption.

Coming from Hokkaido, a sort of Viktor Belenko, in reverse.

I'd be more interested in the Russian ships steaming away...

Slight thread drift - I was stationed at Misawa Air Base when "Traitor Vik" defected. Things were...exciting...for a few days there.