Crashed Japanese F-35 Wreckage Found in Pacific, Pilot Still Missing

A Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-35A stealth fighter jet, which Kyodo says is the same plane that crashed during an exercise on April 9, 2019. Kyodo/via Reuters

TOKYO—Search and rescue teams found wreckage from a crashed Japanese F-35 stealth fighter in the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, and are scouring the waters for the missing pilot, authorities said on April 10.

The aircraft, less than a year old, was the first F-35 assembled in Japan and was aloft for only 28 minutes on April 9 before contact was lost, a defense official said. The plane had logged a total of 280 hours in the air, he added.