Japan Press Weekly

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2019 November 6 - 12 [US FORCES]

US F16 fighter accidently drops dummy bomb in Aomori

A U.S. F-16 fighter jet stationed at the U.S. Misawa Air Base (Aomori Pref.) on November 6 accidently dropped a 226kg-dummy bomb outside its training area during flight drills.

However, more than 24 hours passed before the Japanese Defense Ministry received the report from the U.S. military of this accident.

The dummy bomb fell on private land in Rokkasho Village where there are not only elementary and junior high schools but also the Rokkasho nuclear fuel reprocessing plant nearby.

The incident could have caused a catastrophic disaster in the surrounding area due to radioactive contamination.

At the U.S. Misawa AB, in February last year, an F-16 fighter dumped its fuel tank into a nearby lake which caused a loss of 90 million yen to local fishermen who were catching "shijimi" freshwater clams, "shirauo" icefish, and "wakasagi" lake smelts.

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Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Kasai Akira on November 8 told the press in the Diet building that the U.S. military should suspend all drills involving F-16 fighters and should also look into the incident to confirm the cause.

Also, on the same day, representatives of the JCP Aomori prefectural committee and JCP lawmakers of the Aomori prefectural assembly requested Aomori Governor Mimura Shingo to press the U.S. authorities to probe into the cause and make public the investigation results in addition to suspending flight training exercises.

The JCP group in the prefectural government office building handed a written request to an official in charge.

In response to the JCP visit, the official said that the governor is currently in Tokyo to lodge a formal protest concerning the incident and that he submitted a written demand to the defense minister, the foreign minister, and the U.S. commander to halt the drills until the cause of the accident is determined and proper prevention measures are taken.

Past related articles:
> Local fisheries badly off due to dumping of fuel tanks from US F16 fighter jet [March 21, 2018]
> JCP in Aomori protests dumping of fuel tanks by US military jet [February 22 & 23, 2018]