Bomb Jettisoned Off Japan Believed Found

A Japanese navy minesweeper has found what is believed to be a bomb jettisoned earlier this month by a U.S. fighter jet off Okinawa.

Cmdr. Katsuhiro Otsuki, a spokesman for Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, said the object was located in 215-foot-deep waters about six miles west of the airport in Naha, Okinawa’s largest city and local capital.

Otsuki said the U.S. military plans to recover the object after confirming it is the 1,000-pound weapon jettisoned into the sea on Dec. 10 by a U.S. F/A-18 Hornet.

The F/A-18 failed to release the bomb over a target during a routine training drill. Air traffic controllers at Kadena Air Base, in central Okinawa, ordered the pilot to jettison it into the sea because of the possibility that the bomb might dislodge and explode during landing.

Although the bomb fell harmlessly into the sea, it prompted a furor over the way in which U.S. and Japanese authorities responded to the incident.

It took the U.S. military six hours to notify the Japanese Foreign Ministry, and the ministry did not immediately report it to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, saying later that the report had been unconfirmed.

The Coast Guard had waited 24 hours before sealing off the area to inter-island ferries.

The United States and Japan agreed Thursday to a scheme allowing for a prompt exchange of information on incidents involving U.S. forces based in Japan.