Air force sweating on JSF crash

The RAAF hasn’t made a decision on the future on Joint Strike Fighter jets after a crash in Japan.

The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. Picture: Alex Coppel.

The Royal Australian Air Force is adopting a wait-and-see approach after a Joint Strike Fighter operated by Japan’s Self Defence Force crashed into the Pacific Ocean, raising questions about the ­viability of Australia’s own fledgling fleet of JSFs.

The Defence Department said today it was “monitoring’’ the situation in Japan, which appears to have claimed the life of the sole pilot, following the crash last night.

The Defence Department refused to say if it had grounded Australia’s own fleet of three JSFs or if it was taking additional precautions in the wake of the crash, which occurred in the waters off Honshu, Japan’s largest island.

“Defence continues to monitor the situation in Japan,’’ was the only formal response the department offered when asked about the crash.

However, The Australian understands the RAAF is continuing to operate Australia’s JSFs, which are still in their trial phase, until further information about the crash warrants a change of course. Acting Chief of Air Force Air Vice Marshal Gavin Turnbull told a Senate estimates hearing the Japanese crash site had been secured, warding off fears the Chinese or Russian militaries might get hold of the stealth aircraft’s sensitive technology.

His colleague and head of the JSF program, Air Vice Marshal Leigh Gordon, said that as one of 14 partner countries that developed the JSFs, Australia would expect updates on the cause of the crash.

Air Vice Marshal Gordon said the RAAF would follow the same procedure it did when an F-35B operated by the US Marine Corp crashed in South Carolina in September, an incident that led to the grounding of Australia’s planes.

“We certainly continued to operate our aircraft for a while until some assessments were done by the Joint Program Office and industry,’’ he said. “They pointed us to doing some inspections of some fuel tubes and then aircraft operations continued. I would expect the same set of processes would transpire, but at this stage all we’re doing is monitoring the situation.’’

The manufacturer, US firm Lockheed Martin, said it stood willing to assist Japanese authorities in locating the plane. Wreckage from the JSF was found late yesterday just hours after the plane took off from Misawa Air Base near the Aomori prefecture on Honshu.

The aircraft was part of a four-plane exercise and was in the air for less 90 minutes before air controllers lost contact with the pilot, who remains unaccounted for.

It occurred about 135km offshore. Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said the pilot, a man in his 40s, signalled he needed to abort shortly before contact was lost.

Japan has grounded its 12 remaining Joint Strike Fighters, also known as F-35As, while it investigates the accident.