The Real F-35 Problem That Needs Fixing

Sebastien Roblin

Security, Americas

And it might not be so easy.

On April 9, the first F-35A Lightning stealth jet built in Japan mysteriously vanished while flying a training mission over the Pacific Ocean. It’s veteran pilot, who had sixty hours of experience specifically on the F-35, only indicated he was aborting mission before falling entirely out of contact.

American and Japanese ships and research submarines combed the seas for a month, hoping to recover the wreckage before it fell into the hands of Russia and China. The U.S. Navy alone deployed a destroyer, two P-8 patrol planes and even a U-2 spy plane. Eventually, debris from the aircraft was found including a flight recorder which apparently was “missing its memory.” Finally, in May, the Navy called off the search, but Japanese ships are continuing the search in hoping of recovering the pilot’s remains.

The cause of the Japanese F-35 crash remains mysterious, but it was subsequently revealed that five of the thirteen F-35As in Japanese service (all but one of which was also built in Japan) reportedly had to make emergency landings on seven occasions prior to the crash. While one landing was caused by a false error report, Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Waya noted the others were caused by “systems relating to fuel, hydraulics and other parts” that were immediately replaced.

The F-35 that disappeared itself had experienced earlier cooling and navigation failures. One possibility could be systematic flaws in Mitsubishi’s F-35 production line.