According to the defence ministry, a missing Japanese F-15 fighter plane is believed to have crashed, and its two crew members are still missing.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighter jet vanished from air traffic control radars immediately after takeoff on Monday, roughly 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Komatsu Airbase, which has two tactical fighter squadrons on the Sea of Japan coast, the ministry said on Tuesday.

According to Japanese officials, the F-15 jet fighter had not send an emergency signal before it went missing, and they had received no calls indicating irregularities or rescue signals before it went missing.

Officials believe the flight conditions “deteriorated rapidly,” leaving the two-person crew no time to react, according to the report.

Nobuo Kishi, the Japanese defense minister, told reporters that an early media story that one of the pilots had been located was false.

Nobuo Kishi, the Japanese defense minister denied an early media story that one of the pilots had been located.

“As part of the fuselage of the fighter jet was discovered in the area, the fighter jet is believed to have crashed,” top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Tuesday.

“All efforts” are being undertaken to locate the missing crew members, according to the statement.

Most of Japan’s F-15 fighter jets were constructed under license by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and have served as the country’s primary front-line fighter for four decades, scurrying to respond to Chinese and Russian aircraft probing the country’s airspace.

Japan has 200 F-15 fighter jets, half of which will be modernized by Boeing to extend their service life and increase their capabilities.

Most of Japan’s F-15s are single-seaters, with the two-seater type serving as a training aircraft.

In 2019, a Japanese Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter on a training mission crashed into the Pacific Ocean after its pilot is thought to have experienced spatial disorientation.

Image Credit: Air Self-Defense Force/Jiji Press via AFP

You were reading: Japan intensifies search for missing F-15