US fighter jet crashes into sea off Japanese coast

Pilot ejects from F-15 in latest incident involving American forces on remote Okinawa Island

A US Air Force F-15 jet (Getty)

The US military says an air force (USAF) fighter jet has crashed in waters south of the Japanese island of Okinawa during training drills.

In a statement released on Monday, the Air Force said the pilot of the F-15C aircraft had ejected and had been rescued.

The cause of the crash, which took place at about 6.30am on Sunday morning, is under investigation.

In a statement, the US forces in Japan said the jet was stationed at the USAF’s Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

“The aircraft was conducting a routine training mission,” the statement said.

“The pilot was the only person in the aircraft and successfully ejected.

“Search and rescue crews have responded and successfully recovered the pilot. A board of officers will investigate the accident.”

The US has maintained a strong presence in Japan since the end of the Second World War and roughly 50,000 American troops are currently stationed there.

Almost half of them are based on the tiny Okinawa island chain, which is home to roughly two-thirds of all US military installations in Japan.

Relations between American forces and local residents on the island have often been fractious.

In December last year, the US Marine Corps (USMC) sparked outrage in Japan after a window fell out of one of its Super Stallion helicopters during an operation, landing on an Okinawa elementary school field and injuring a young boy.

A large majority of Okinawans oppose the American military presence on the islands, associating it with crime and other problems.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe‘s government is overseeing contentious plans to relocate the USMC’s Futenma airbase from an urban area in central Okinawa to the less populated Henoko district in the island’s north.

Additional reporting by agencies