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COVID also delayed the training of F-35 test pilots due to concerns about virus transmission among this most elite cadre of pilots. However, like its European counterpart, Japan was forced to shut production down due to the pandemic. Thanks to the deal, Japan is now home to one of only two F-35 final assembly and check-out (FACO) facilities located outside of Fort Worth, Texas - where Lockheed Martin maintains the primary F-35 production facility. State Department approved a $23 billion plan for Japan to acquire 105 F-35 stealth fighters of both the conventional take-off (F-35A) and short take-off and vertical landing (F-35B) variants. This development comes after Tokyo signaled its intention last year to build jets suited for responding to security challenges posed by China in the Taiwan Strait. Though Japan will continue with the F-35s, Tokyo is also looking at creating its own indigenous fighter program. The crash represents, however, the most fatal part of Japan’s troubled relationship with one of the world’s most expensive warplanes. Hosomi’s crash led to a four-month halt to all F-35 flights by Japan’s Air Self Defence Force (JASDF). Throughout the course of the investigation and recovery, potential salvage efforts by a hostile power remained a significant concern for both Tokyo and Washington. The aircraft was believed to have suffered from navigational and cooling errors before the crash. Hosomi’s remains were recovered from the seabed months later, and the mystery surrounding the first fatal crash of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons system grew.Īuthorities later revealed that the pilot likely suffered from vertigo or spatial disorientation after taking off from Misawa Air Base. Yet, his plane fell into the Pacific Ocean without so much as a distress call. An experienced pilot with 60 hours on the advanced fighter jet, the multirole jet he was flying was state of the art, and the mission profile was to be another routine night-training exercise. There was little sign of trouble when the 41-year-old pilot took off from Misawa Air Base in northern Japan that fateful night.