Pieces of missing Japanese F-35 fighter jet found; pilot still missing after crash

Japan's military has confirmed that one of its F-35A jet fighters has crashed in the Pacific Ocean during a training exercise. National broadcaster NHK reports that search crews have recovered part of the plane's tail.
As of midday Wednesday in Japan, the plane's pilot, reportedly in his 40s, was still missing. It is not clear whether he ejected before the plane crashed. NHK quotes Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya as saying that the military is focusing on rescuing the pilot and investigating the cause of the crash. He added that the U.S. military is assisting with the search.
The crash has raised concerns both about the safety of the F-35, which Japan plans to adopt as the mainstay of its air force, and the possible intelligence windfall that any foreign government could score, in the event that they could beat Japanese or U.S. search crews to the missing plane's wreckage.
The plane took off from Misawa airbase in northeast Japan's Aomori prefecture around 7 p.m. for a combat training exercise with three other jets. There were no signs of any problem until a half-hour later, when the pilot communicated that he was calling off the mission. The plane then disappeared from the radar, roughly 80 miles east of Misawa.