Japanese defence officials have lodged a formal complaint with the US after dramatic footage of a fighter jet flying below the permitted altitude was uploaded to YouTube.

The F-16 fighter jet captured cockpit views as it passed at high-speed through mountains in an apparent breach of regulations, while taking part in training in northeastern Japan.

After the footage was published online, officials from the defence ministry’s regional office issued a complaint to Misawa Air Base in Aomori, north Japan, where the jet is based, according to Kyodo News Agency.

Japanese officials reportedly urged the commander of the US base to abide by aviation laws, which prohibit aircraft from flying below an altitude of 150 metres in non-residential areas.

The dramatic YouTube footage, which runs for around 10 minutes, has been viewed more than 414,000 times since it was uploaded earlier this month. </s> Step aside Boeing, it's Lockheed Martin's turn to bask in the spotlight for at least a few hours.

Earlier today, a Japanese F-35 stealth fighter jet with one pilot on board unexpectedly disappeared from radar while on a training mission over the Pacific on Tuesday night, Kyodo reported citing the defense ministry. The fighter jet went missing at around 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT) as it was flying 135 km (84 miles) east of Misawa in northeastern Japan, a ministry spokeswoman said.

It was not immediately clear if it had crashed, the spokesperson said, adding: “We are still trying to search for the aircraft.”

The fate of the pilot was also not immediately clear.

According to Japan's NHK, the plane lost contact about 30 minutes after taking off from Misawa Air Base, and added that the Self-Defence Forces and coastguard dispatched vessels to carry out rescue operations, NHK added.

What is embarrassing, is that according to the Defense Report, Japan’s first F-35A fighter squadron based at Misawa became operational on March 29.

As a result of the unexplained, and first ever, disappearance of the stealth fighter, Kyodo also reports that Japan will ground its entire fleet of F-35s until there is more clarity on what happened today. </s> TOKYO (AP) — Japanese defense officials say a search is underway for a fighter jet after it disappeared from radar during a flight exercise in northern Japan. The Air Self-Defense Force says the F-35A stealth…

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese defense officials say a search is underway for a fighter jet after it disappeared from radar during a flight exercise in northern Japan.

The Air Self-Defense Force says the F-35A stealth jet went missing Tuesday while flying off the eastern coast of Aomori. It says the plane disappeared from radar about half an hour after taking off from the Misawa air base with three other F-35As for a flight exercise.

Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters that a search and rescue operation was underway for the missing jet and its pilot. The cause of the mishap was not immediately known.

Iwaya says 12 other F-35s at the Misawa base will be grounded.

Japan plans to buy 147 U.S.-made F-35s, most of them F-35As, over the next decade.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> April 9 (UPI) -- A Japanese F-35A stealth fighter jet disappeared from radar while over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, prompting defense officials to ground the aircraft model, the Air Self-Defense Force said.

The F-35A disappeared during a training exercise after taking off from Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan. The pilot, a major in his 40s, was flying with three other aircraft near Aomori prefecture when he lost contact.

Officials are unsure whether the plane crashed and, if it did, whether the pilot was able to eject from the aircraft.

"The cause [of the disappearance] is unknown," Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.

Planes, helicopters and warships were searching the area for signs of the pilot or wreckage.

The Defense Ministry "will put all our efforts to save the life [of the pilot] first," Iwaya said.

He added that military officials have suspended further flights using F-35As. The Japanese air force began using the aircraft in March; it has 13 in its fleet. </s> Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a Japanese F-35 stealth fighter that crashed over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, but the pilot remains missing, authorities said on Wednesday.

The aircraft, less than one-year-old, was the first F-35 to be assembled in Japan and was only in the air for 28 minutes on Tuesday, a defense official said. It is only the second F-35 to crash in the two-decades it has been flying.

The advanced, single-seat jet was flying about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa air base in Aomori Prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT) on Tuesday when it disappeared from radar, the Air Self Defense Force said. "We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35," a spokesman for the Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) said, adding that the pilot of the aircraft was still missing.

The aircraft was at the front of a group of four planes out for training maneuvers when it sent an “aborting practice” signal and then disappeared from the radar, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters. "We’ll need to cooperate with the US forces and I believe arrangements are being made for this," Iwaya said, adding the priority was on determining the cause of the accident.

Japan has a total of 13 F-35s, including the one that crashed. The crashed aircraft was the fifth F-35 delivered to the ASDF, but the first assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan </s> TOKYO – A Japanese air force F-35 stealth fighter crashed in the Pacific Ocean during a night training flight and parts of the jet were recovered, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The pilot is still missing. The F-35A stealth jet disappeared from radar while flying off the eastern coast of Aomori. Parts of the jet were found late Tuesday, the Air Self-Defense Force said.

It went missing about half an hour after taking off from the Misawa air base with three other F-35As.

Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters the cause of the crash was not immediately known. He said 12 other F-35s at the Misawa base would be grounded.

The pilot is a man in his 40s, Iwaya said.

Japan started deploying the expensive U.S.-made F-35s since last year, part of its plan to bolster its defense spending and weapons capability in the coming years to counter potential threats from North Korea and China.

Under guidelines approved in December, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government plans to buy 147 F-35s, including 105 F-35As, costing about 10 billion yen ($90 million) each. </s> Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a Japanese F-35 stealth fighter that crashed over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, but the pilot remains missing, authorities said on Wednesday.

The aircraft, less than one-year-old, was the first F-35 to be assembled in Japan and was only in the air for 28 minutes on Tuesday, a defence official said.

It is only the second F-35 to crash in the two-decades it has been flying.

The advanced, single-seat jet was flying about 135 km (84 miles) east of the Misawa air base in Aomori Prefecture at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT) on Tuesday when it disappeared from radar, the Air Self Defense Force said.

"We recovered the wreckage and determined it was from the F-35," a spokesman for the Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) said, adding that the pilot of the aircraft was still missing.

The aircraft was at the front of a group of four planes out for training manouvres when it sent an "aborting practice" signal and then disappeared from the radar, Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters.

"We'll need to cooperate with the U.S. forces and I believe arrangements are being made for this," Iwaya said, adding the priority was on determining the cause of the accident.

Japan has a total of 13 F-35s, including the one that crashed. The crashed aircraft was the fifth F-35 delivered to the ASDF, but the first assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, a second ASDF official told Reuters.

The previous four aircraft had been used for training in the United States before being brought to Japan, the defence official said.

A representative for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the company had no immediate comment. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd assembles the aircraft at a plant near Nagoya in central Japan. Each costs around $100 million, slightly more than the cost of buying a fully assembled plane.

The aircraft had been in the air for 28 minutes when contact was lost, the official said. The pilot had 3,200 hours of flight time, with 60 hours on the F-35, the official said.The aircraft crashed in waters that reach a depth of around 1,500 metres, making recovery difficult, the official said.

ONLY SECOND F35 TO CRASH

The aircraft was less than a year old and was delivered to the ASDF in May last year, the ASDF spokesman said. Japan's first squadron of F-35s has just become operational at Misawa and the government plans to buy 87 of the stealth fighters to modernise its air defences as China's military power grows.

The crash marks only the second time an F-35 has gone down since the plane began flying almost two decades ago. It was also the first crash of an A version of the fifth-generation fighter, which is designed to penetrate enemy defences by evading radar detection.

Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the aircraft, said it was standing by to support the Japanese Air Self Defense Force as needed. The Pentagon said it was monitoring the situation.

A U.S. military short take off and landing (STOVL) F-35B crashed near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina in September prompting a temporary grounding of the aircraft. Lockheed Martin also makes a C version of the fighter designed to operate off carriers.

Japan's new F-35s will include 18 short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) B variants that planners want to deploy on its islands along the edge of the East China Sea. </s> June 21 (UPI) -- Russian bombers violated Japanese airspace, prompting a scramble of fighter planes to escort them away, Japan's defense ministry said.

Two Tu-95 bombers entered Japanese airspace near Minamidaito Island in Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday morning for about three minutes, and one later re-entered the airspace for about two minutes near Hachijo Island in the Izu island chain, the ministry said. It added no dangerous maneuvers were observed.

The planes were later seen flying southward from the Sea of Japan through the Tsushima Strait between Japan and South Korea in the morning.

A "stern protest" against Russia was lodged over the incident, the Japanese Foreign Ministry later said. Russia insisted that the planes did not violate Japan's airspace but flew over international waters during a 14-hour flight.

"Two strategic bombers Tupolev-95MS of Russia's Aerospace Force flew a routine mission in the airspace over the international waters of the Sea of Japan and the East China and South China seas as well as the western part of the Pacific Ocean," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday. "The flight was carried out in strict compliance with the international rules of using international airspace, without any violations of the borders of other states."

Japan did not report the number of fighter planes it used to divert the Russian planes.

A report by Japan's Defense Ministry said its fighter jets had scrambled nearly 1,000 times against foreign aircraft approaching Japanese airspace in the year ending on March 31. Over 340 incidents involved Russian aircraft and 638 involved Chinese planes, it said. </s> Six missing after two US military planes crash off Japan

TOKYO: Six US marines were missing after two American military aircraft crashed on Thursday during a refuelling operation off the coast of Japan, said officials.

The two planes -- an F-18 fighter and a C-130 tanker -- were involved in a "mishap about 200 miles off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 am" according to a statement from the US Marines in Japan.

A US defense official told AFP there had been a crash after the plane took off from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in southern Japan.

A spokesman for Japan´s Self-Defense Forces said that one of the airmen had been rescued but the immediate fate of the remaining crew members was unclear.

The crew member was being assessed by doctors, the Marine statement said, adding that "the search and rescue operations continue for the remaining six."

The C-130 was thought to be carrying five servicemen and the F-18 two, said the Japanese official, who added that Japan had scrambled four aircraft and three ships in the search.

US media also reported five crew on the C-130 and two on the F-18.

"We are thankful for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force´s efforts as they immediately responded in the search and rescue operation," the Marines said.

The planes took off from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in southern Japan and were "conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred," the statement said.

The circumstances of the mishap are currently under investigation, the military added.

The US military has about 50,000 troops stationed in Japan and accidents are not uncommon.

In November, a US navy fighter jet crashed into the sea off Japan´s southern island of Okinawa and its two crew members were rescued alive.

The US military has also experienced difficulties with its Osprey helicopters, with several emergency landings, a deadly crash and a piece of the chopper falling on the grounds of a Japanese school.

Those incidents have stoked tensions between close military allies Washington and Tokyo and led to protests against the deployment of Ospreys by residents living near US bases.
Japan lodges a formal complaint after footage appears on YouTube of a US F-16 fighter jet based at Misawa Air Base in Aomori flying at high speed and low altitude through mountains in an apparent breach of regulations. Japanese law prohibits aircraft from descending below 150 feet in non-residential areas.