A search mission is underway for two pilots of an F-15 fighter jet that crashed off the coast of Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 31. (Takahiro Kumakura)

Photo/Illutration A Self-Defense Force’s helicopter searches Feb. 1 for two pilots of an F-15 fighter jet that disappeared off the coast of Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, the previous evening. (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)

Search operations were continuing Feb. 1 for two pilots of an Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter jet that disappeared from radar the previous evening over the Sea of Japan, the Defense Ministry said.

It said Jan. 31 that wreckage had been spotted but there was at yet no trace of the missing pair.

The two-seater aircraft swerved sharply to the right immediately after it took off from the ASDF’s Komatsu Air Base in Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, but did not activate an emergency signal, ministry sources said.

They concluded the aircraft developed an engine problem and went into a nosedive.

It took off from the base at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 to fly west-southwest on a night-time flight training mission. It was flown by two male pilots, one in the front of the cockpit and the other in the back seat.

The training was to simulate night-time fighter interception in the event of an “enemy invasion.”

Ministry officials said the aircraft vanished from radar about 5 kilometers west-northwest of the base while heading to airspace for a training area about 20 km north of the base.

It tilted to the right while ascending to change course and then appeared to lose thrust and fell steeply, the ministry said.

The incident occurred less than a minute after takeoff.

The Japan Coast Guard received an emergency call around 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 from a private citizen who saw “light (in the sea).”

Wreckage identified as part of an outer panel and life-saving equipment aboard the aircraft was spotted around 7:10 p.m. in the vicinity where it disappeared and later retrieved.

The two pilots would have worn life-saving gear that is designed to automatically activate a radio signal in the event of an emergency.

Officials said the equipment was most likely wrecked on impact or sank.

The search operation involves three helicopters from the ASDF and the Maritime SDF, an ASDF aircraft, five MSDF ships and three coast guard patrol vessels.

As of the morning of Feb. 1, no trace of the two pilots had been found.

“We will continue to gather information about what happened and do everything in our power to rescue the pair,” Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said at a news conference on the morning of Feb. 1 after instructing the ASDF to conduct an immediate emergency safety inspection of all its aircraft.

The ministry operates around 200 F-15 fighter jets nationwide.

The crashed jet, an F-15-DJ type, measures 19.4 meters long, 13.1 meters wide and 5.6 meters high. Its maximum velocity is about Mach 2.5.

Its mission is to scramble to intercept a foreign aircraft that violate the Japan’s airspace.

The jet belongs to the tactical fighter training group stationed at the Komatsu base.

The group of highly skilled veteran elite pilots plays an enemy role in training exercises with other troop units nationwide and goes by the nickname “aggressor.”

In July 2011, an F-15 fighter jet belonging to the ASDF’s Naha Air Base disappeared from radar at sea about 180 km northwest of the city of Naha, the Okinawa prefectural capital.

Wreckage from the aircraft was later found.

In April 2019, a single-seated F-35-A fighter jet from the ASDF’s Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture went missing over the Pacific Ocean about 135 km east of the base.

Aircraft wreckage found in the surrounding area suggested it had crashed, officials said.

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