Japan is still searching at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for the wreckage of its F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, two days after the plane crashed in the waters off northern Japan.
Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who addressed the media in Tokyo on Friday morning, said the Japanese navy had deployed a submarine to search the depths in the area where the F-35A crashed. The area is estimated to be around 5.000 feet (1.500 meters) deep.
The crashed F-35 pilot is the 41-year-old eldest, Akinori Hosomi, and is still missing. He took part in a training mission with three other F-35s on Tuesday evening. It disappeared from radar about 85 miles (135 kilometers) east of Misawa Air Base in the northern part of Japan's main island of Honshu.
Major Hosomi had 3200 flight hours and more than 60 on the F-35A.
The disappearance of the plane triggered a large search operation by ships and planes belonging to the Japanese armed forces. According to the Japan-based US Navy fleet, destroyer Stethem and several Poseidon P-8A aircraft also participated in the research. Some remains of the F-35 have been spotted on the surface of the water, which demonstrates the outcome of the tragic disappearance.
Minister Iwaya confirmed that there is no intention to review the purchase of other F-35s. The results of an investigation into the incident, which is the second ever involving an F-35, are awaited. An F-35B belonging to the United States Marine Corps crashed in South Carolina in September 2018, whose cause is still under investigation.
Japan plans to acquire a total of 147 F-35, divided into 105 conventional take-off and landing variants F-35A and 42 F-35B, with short takeoff and vertical landing.
The minister was asked whether China or Russia would try to find the F-35 crashed from the seabed, to steal the secrets of technology aboard the stealth jet. The minister replied that no unusual activity was observed at the crash site, although Japanese forces continue to monitor the situation.
The very interesting aspect is that the aircraft is still not found, despite its tonnage. It is hoped that the abyss have hidden it well, because Russia and China certainly do not stand by the window to look and get their hands on such an instrument would defeat the efforts aimed at secrecy of the instrumentation and stealth technology of the aircraft.