S.Korean fighter jet makes emergency landing due to 'avionic system issues'

Seoul, Jan 4 (IANS) An F-35A fighter operated by South Korea's Air Force made an emergency landing during a training session on Tuesday due to avionic system issues, with its pilot having emerged unscathed, officials said.

The radar-evading jet made the "belly landing" on a runway at an air base in Seosan, 151 km south of Seoul, at around 12.51 p.m. (local time) after the issues caused the landing gear to become momentarily dormant, Yonhap news Agency quoted the officials as saying.

The pilot walked away unscathed, they added.

South Korea's Air Force and the US military plan to initiate a joint investigation into what went wrong with the fighter manufactured by the American defence firm Lockheed Martin.

The Air Force will suspend all of its F-35A fighters pending the probe, the officials said.

It has so far received more than 30 F-35A jets from the US under a plan to deploy a total of 40 units.