Japanese Ministry of Defence stated that Japanese F-35A fighters suffered seven emergency landings since entering service, before one crashed in the Pacific Ocean on April 9. Japan has 13 F-35 in its fleet.

The emergency landings took place between June 2017 and January 2019 during flight tests and drills, Japanese daily Mainichi reported on Wednesday.

Mainichi states that, of the 13 aircraft in service with the Japan Air Self-Defence Force, five have been forced to make emergency landings in seven separate incidents. Of these, two emergency landings were due to faults recorded in the aircraft that crashed last week.

Final assembly of four of the aircraft which reported errors, including the fighter that went missing April 9, was carried out in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.