Japanese Phantom fighter jets without
ammo in machine guns, pending probe
By Wayne Specht, Misawa
bureau chief
Japanese F-4EJ Phantom fighters on alert duty are without ammunition in their machine
guns as a safety precaution following an accidential firing, a Defense Agency source
confirmed Friday.
On Monday, an F-4EJ Phantom fighter strafed a parking lot and golf course in Hokkaido
with 188 rounds of 20 mm practice ammunition.
Ken Sato, the agency’s vice minister of administration, said during a Thursday
briefing the order will remain until the exact cause and remedy to the Hokkaido incident
can be determined.
No one was injured when the Phantom’s gun fired without the pilot activating the
weapon during air-to-ground training at Shimamatsu range near Sapporo.
Phantom fighters with the 3rd Air Wing on alert status at Misawa Air Base in northern
Japan and those on alert at other Japanese Air Self-Defense Force bases nationwide are
covered by the order.
Aircraft are scrambled when Japan’s territorial airspace is violated. Russian
aircraft operating in the Russian Far East entered Japanese airspace over Hokkaido about a
month ago while conducting an exercise.
Misawa-based Phantoms, along with F-15 fighters from Chitose Air Base on Hokkaido, were
sent to escort the Bear-class bombers back into international airspace.
An initial investigation into Monday’s incident showed an undetermined anomaly in
the F-4’s electrical system caused the gun to fire when the cockpit control stick was
moved from side to side despite the gun being unarmed and in a safe mode.
Meanwhile, Japanese troops in Hokkaido on Thursday found three additional rounds,
bringing the total number of misfired rounds recovered to 21.
Naoko Sekioka contributed to this report.
PREVIOUS STORY:
June 29: Quirk in electrical system
blamed for firing
June 28: Electrical malfunction may have
caused accident
June 27: Japanese pilot’s gun
accidentally fires into parking lot
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