February 6 & 8, 2025

Two F-35 stealth fighter jets belonging to the U.S. Iwakuni Air Station (Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Pref.) on February 5 made an emergency landing at Matsuyama Airport (Matsuyama City, Ehime Pref.). They were believed to be F35-C carrier-borne aircraft.

The Japanese Communist Party Ehime Prefectural Committee, together with a JCP Ehime Prefectural assemblyperson and a JCP Matsuyama City assemblymember, on February 6 made representations to the prefectural government, demanding that the prefectural authority have the U.S. military disclose the details of the emergency landing, and that it swiftly release the information obtained to the Ehime residents.

JCP Prefectural Committee Chair Hayashi Noriko said that F-35s have caused eleven crashes since 2018, including a near-vertical crash in Alaska on January 28, and that their safety has been called into question.

Pointing to the need to prohibit military aircraft from the use of civil airport in order to ensure airport safety, the JCP representatives demanded that the right of approach control at Matsuyama Airport be returned from the U.S. military to Japan. They also demanded that low-altitude flight drills not be conducted over in Ehime Prefecture.