The Defense Ministry is not considering a revision to its plan to procure a total of 105 F-35A stealth fighters despite the crash Wednesday of one of the jets into the sea off Aomori Prefecture, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Friday.
"We don't know the cause (of the crash) yet, so we are not thinking of revising the procurement plan now," Iwaya told a news conference Friday morning.
Given the depth of the water in the area, it is "probably possible" to recover the jet, which is believed to have sunk to the bottom of the sea, if it is ever found, Iwaya added.