Missing Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Blackhawk Feared Crashed
Japanese authorities are conducting search and rescue efforts for a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Blackhawk that went missing south of Okinawa on Thursday.
According to Japan’s defense ministry, radar contact was lost with the UH-60JA of the 8th Rapid Deployment Division’s 8th Aviation Squadron around 3:56PM local time, off the northern coast of Miyako Island. The helicopter had taken off from a JGSDF base on the island to conduct a surveillance flight around the island, with good weather conditions reported at the time of the flight. Aboard the missing Blackhawk were four crew members and six passengers, including Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto, commanding officer of the division.
At an evening press conference, JGSDF chief of staff Gen. Yasunori Morishita stated that it was believed that the Blackhawk had met with an accident, as the helicopter would only have run out of fuel by the time of the press conference, hours after going missing. He stressed that search and rescue personnel would do their best in order to rescue those aboard the missing helicopter as soon as possible.
Japan’s Coast Guard has reported the recovery of debris believed to be from the missing Blackhawk, with items found including an undeployed lifeboat with JGSDF markings, window frames and rotor parts. An oil slick was spotted as well, with four Coast Guard patrol boats now participating in search and rescue efforts.
The JGSDF has since ordered a halt to all Blackhawk operations following the disappearance, save for disaster relief missions.
Lt. Gen. Yuichi Sakamoto had only been appointed as the commander of the 8th Division on March 31. The Kumamoto-headquartered division is tasked with defending Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures in Kyushu, and was reorganized in 2018 into a Rapid Deployment Division to better respond to contingencies in Japan’s southern outlying islands.
Miyako Island is approximately 300 kilometers southwest of Okinawa, and 400 kilometers east of Taiwan. A JGSDF base on the island hosts surface-to-air missile and anti-ship missile units monitoring the strategic Miyako Strait separating the island from Okinawa, while the Air Self-Defense Force operates an air surveillance radar and signals intelligence facility at a separate site.