A Japanese fighter F-35 has disappeared in the Pacific Ocean and Tokyo has suspended all flights of this model

Japan's self-defense forces reported Thursday that they lost contact with one of their F-35 stealth fighters as they flew over the Pacific Ocean. The flight ban has therefore been announced for all model aircraft until the causes of the incident are known.

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, made in the United States, disappeared from the radar at 7:27 am (135h27 GMT) 135 kilometers from Misawa, northeastern Japan, said a spokesman.

At the time, we did not know what had happened, not even if it had crashed. "We always try to find the plane"said the spokesperson. Nothing is known about the fate of the pilot.

Contact with the F-35, one of the most modern military aircraft in the world and developed in the United States in order to also arm its allies, he lost 30 minutes after taking off from Misawa air base for a training mission, the network said. NHK.

At the time, several Japanese self-defense and coastguard vessels were searching the area for the time being without success.

Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya pointed out that therefore, all F-35A in service in the self-defense forces will remain grounded until an investigation is conducted into what happened to the missing aircraft., according to the Kyodo agency.

Japan plans to incorporate 147 F-35 in its clbadic A version and 12 more in the B version of the vertical takeoff and landing. But up to here received only 13 F-35A, which entered service on March 29 as a 302 tactical fighter squadron.

Advances devious and versatile fighter-bomber flew for the first time in 2006 and entered service in 2015 in the United States Marine Corps.

Although this is a design of the American Lockheed Martin, In total, 12 countries participated in different development processes. and it is expected that a total of 15 nations will join the model in their air forces.

In the case of Japan, he even signed an agreement to have some F-35s manufactured locally by Mtisubishi.

The F-35 entered combat for the first time in 2018, operated by Israel in the Middle East and shortly thereafter the United States used it to attack insurgents in Afghanistan.

Until now, and not to mention the recent case in Japan, a mere F-35 was lost in an accident in 2018 in South Carolina. The pilot managed to eject in time but the incident also resulted in the temporary ban on flying all aircraft of this type. Some time later, it became apparent that a fuel hose problem had caused the accident.