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An F-35A Japanese stealth fighter jet disappeared from radar screens during a flight training exercise.

Military officials have launched a search for the jet which mysteriously vanished while flying in northern Japan.

Japan's Air Self-Defense Force said the F-35A jet went missing while flying off the eastern coast of Aomori.

It disappeared from radar about half an hour after taking off from the Misawa air base with three other F-35As for a flight exercise.

Japan's defense minister Takeshi Iwaya said a search and rescue operation was underway for the missing jet and its pilot. The cause of the mishap was not immediately known.

12 other F-35s at the Misawa base have been grounded.

Japan plans to buy 147 U.S.-made F-35s, most of them F-35As, over the next decade.