F-35 missing. This ain't a show stopper but a warning to Program Officials to get their shit straight!

via Defense News.

A Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-35A fighter jet has gone missing off the coast of northern Japan, with a search mission now underway.

Local media reported that contact with the Lockheed Martin-made stealth fighter was lost just before 7:30 p.m. local time, with the aircraft’s last reported location identified over the Pacific Ocean about miles 85 miles east of Misawa city in Aomori prefecture, in the northern part of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Japan’s national public broadcaster, NHK, quoting Japan Air Self-Defense Force officials, reported that the missing F-35A was one of four JASDF F-35As that had taken off from nearby Misawa Air Base for a training mission at 7:00 p.m. local time.

The officials added that Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force aircraft and vessels have begun a search mission. Japan’s Coast Guard said it is sending two vessels to join in the search. Other JASDF aircraft, most likely search-and-rescue U-125A jets and UH-60J Black Hawk helicopters that are deployed throughout Japanese air bases, have also reportedly joined the search efforts.

Story here. 

First.

I hope they find this bubba.  Cold water.  Rough seas.  The waters off the coast of Japan are no joke!  Japanese Maritime Forces are cracker jack.  What I haven't seen and would hope is already happening is that USMC, USN and USAF aircraft are already assisting.  I hope the Navy has sortied at least a couple of ships (hopefully more) to help out.

I hope they find this dude alive and well.

Second.

I'm a critic of the F-35A and F-35C (still sorting myself on the B....blog post coming on my thinking, muddled as it is on that airplane soon).  But be advised.

This ain't a show stopper for the program.

This is a warning to Program officials.

They need to get their shit straight!

The rush to completion of testing is a mistake.  The program has produced jets.  The number of F-35s in service have already exceeded the number of initial Harriers bought (or in service for the USMC right now!).  The number of F-16s in the initial run is approaching the number of F-35As in USAF service.

What the supporters (unabashed supporters of this program) should be demanding is that they take a beat, get oriented in the right direction, a solid program to correct deficiencies lined up AND THEN they need to supervise that plan to completion.

No more planes hit the fleet till they do that!

This ain't a production thing anymore.  This is a confidence thing.  This is a future fight thing.

We need planes that work right!

Then if its found that they've reached farther than they can grasp then they need a come to Jesus moment and shut this shit down.  No more games.  No more idiot optimism.  Just decisions based on the facts!

If one of Japan’s F-35s is sitting at the bottom of the Pacific, we are probably about to see one of the biggest underwater espionage  and counter-espionage ops since the Cold War. If it was operating without its radar reflectors pinpointing where it went in may be an issue. 1/2

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) April 9, 2019