Japan has grounded its F-15 fighters for the second time in three months after a fuel tank and parts of a mock missile fell off a jet on a training mission, officials said on Saturday.
Japan Air Self-Defence Force officials said the flight suspension involves all missions except emergency scrambles and will last until the safety of Japan's 202 F-15 fighters has been confirmed.
No one was injured in Friday's incident near Komatsu base in western Japan and the pilot landed safely. In July, Japan's F-15s were grounded after one of the jets crashed into the East China Sea. The latest incident comes as Tokyo is moving ahead to replace its ageing fighters.
The 155-kilogramme tank, which was empty, and parts of the dummy missile detached and fell from the plane as it was nearing the field for landing. The debris fell on 10 locations, including a sewage plant.
"We take this accident very seriously," Gen Shigeru Iwasaki, the head of Japan's air forces, said at a news conference on late Friday. He said the cause was under investigation. Japan is the biggest foreign user of the US-designed planes but is looking for a newer aircraft to replace its ageing fleet. It is expected to announce its choice by the end of the year in a deal worth more than USD 8 billion.
Because of Japan's close military ties with Washington, options such as the Lockheed F-35 and Boeing F/A-18 have long been the top contenders, but the Eurofighter Typhoon is also being considered.
The deal is expected to involve 40 or 50 new planes. Though many upgrades and changes to the planes have been made over the years, F-15 fighters have been in service since the early 1970s and are increasingly expensive to maintain.