While conducting routine training flights, two Marine Corps aircraft made "precautionary" landings in Japan within roughly an hour of each other on the same day this week, service spokespeople confirmed to Military.com.
After both aircraft received onboard warning indicators on Tuesday, an MV-2B Osprey and an F-35B Lightning II separately touched down in different parts of Japan without injury to the crews or damage to the aircraft, according to the service. It was not clear what caused the onboard warnings.
After landing, the crews and maintenance teams began "troubleshooting" both aircraft to ensure that they were safe for continued flights, the spokespeople said. The F-35 touched down around 1:58 p.m. at Kochi Airport, which is in southern Japan, and the Osprey landed about an hour later at an airport in the central part of the island nation.
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The F-35B belongs to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 aboard Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, and the Osprey is assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, they said. Stars and Stripes first reported the landings.
"Operating our aircraft safely and effectively is a top priority, and our aviators take great precautions to ensure the safety of the aircrew and the communities in which we operate," Maj. Edward Pingel, a spokesman for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit speaking about the Osprey landing, told Military.com in an emailed statement Wednesday evening.
"Any decision to divert to alternate landing areas is made out of an abundance of caution to prioritize the safety of both our aircrew and the local community," he added. That part of the statement was also included by a spokesperson in relation to the F-35B landing.
Stars and Stripes reported that commercial flights were not disrupted by the F-35B landing on Tuesday and that, as of Wednesday, the Osprey was still at Matsumoto Airport, where it made the precautionary landing, citing unnamed Japanese defense bureau spokespeople.
The publication reported that a second Osprey landed at Matsumoto Airport, closing the runway for 45 minutes and disrupting two commercial flights, citing a news release from Nagano prefecture.
"I apologize to the citizens of the prefecture and people using Matsumoto airport for the anxiety this is causing," Nagano Gov. Shuichi Abe said Tuesday, according to Stripes. "We are asking the North Kanto Defense Bureau to collect and share detailed information and to deal with this appropriately to ensure safety."
In 2023, Military.com reported that three Marine Corps Ospreys made forced landings within two days of each other in Japan, with officials saying at the time that they were not made as a result of a hard clutch engagement, a malfunction that shreds internal components that power the aircraft's twin rotors and has plagued the fleet in recent years, resulting in at least one fatal crash.
Last year, an Air Force test pilot was sent to a hospital in critical condition after the F-35 they were flying crashed in New Mexico. A Marine Corps F-35B crashed in South Carolina in 2023 after the pilot ejected from the aircraft, prompting a daylong search for the jet.
"The pilot performed as trained and prioritized safety by landing the aircraft in accordance with standard procedures," Maj. Joseph Butterfield, a spokesperson for 1st Marine Aircraft Wing out of Okinawa, Japan, told Military.com in an emailed statement Wednesday evening regarding the F-35's landing this week. "We have the utmost confidence in our pilots' ability to make informed decisions when presented with indications that an aircraft requires examination before continuing flight operations."
