A day after it was last seen from radar over the Pacific Ocean, the wreckage of a Japanese F-35 stealth fighter has been found.
The Japanese military officials say, however, that the pilot of the plane is still missing.
Parts of the plane have been recovered during search operations at sea.
Why the plane under a year-old lost contact and crashed is still unknown, but the fighter jet went missing on Tuesday at 19:27 pm (10:27 GMT), flying 135km east of a city in north-eastern Japan – Misawa.
It lost contact about 30 minutes after taking off from the Misawa Air Base.
According to Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, no problems with the aircraft seems to have been identified, yet.
And according to news site Kyodo, rescue teams, however, would still continue their search for the male pilot who is in his 40s.
To replace its ageing F-$ fighter jet, Japan has been deploying $90m F-35s which cost around £68m.
Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya has said that the country has now temporarily grounded its 12 remaining F-35 fighter jets at the Misawa base.
And according to Reuters, this is only the second time an F-35 has crashed since the jet began flying.