F-15 Fighter Jet Breaks Wheel on Runway, Airport Paralysed for Four Hours

A runway at Naha Airport in southern Okinawa Prefecture was forced to close for several hours on Tuesday. The incident occurred after a fighter jet belonging to the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) became immobilised and unable to move following its landing.

Citing Japan Today on Wednesday (19/8/2026), the Ministry of Transport confirmed there were no injuries in the incident involving the F-15 fighter jet from the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF). The aircraft is known to be based at Naha Air Base, which is located nearby, where the runway at Naha Airport has long been used side by side by both civilian aircraft and SDF fleets.

According to a statement from the airport representative office under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Runway B, where the F-15 landed, had to be closed from around 12.55 local time. The emergency closure lasted approximately four hours before flight operations could finally resume.

During the evacuation and closure process, all passenger aircraft were diverted to use Runway A. Although airport operations did not come to a complete halt, the emergency situation directly triggered a series of delays to arrival and departure schedules.

Based on information from government sources, the fighter jet had just returned from a quick-response interception mission (scramble) before suddenly becoming immobilised on the tarmac. The F-15 was seen tilting to its left side after its left main landing gear broke.

The airport office revealed that they were contacted by the ASDF shortly after the fighter jet touched down. They immediately received a warning that a technical problem had occurred during the landing process. The heavy fighter jet ultimately had to be lifted onto a truck using a large crane to be removed from the runway.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki immediately spoke to reporters about the incident. He urged a swift investigation to determine the exact cause of the incident, while also demanding concrete measures to prevent similar occurrences from happening again.

“It is extremely disappointing,” he stressed.

For context, Runway B, where the incident took place, only began operating in March 2020.