AH-1Z Viper helicopter of US Marine Corps makes emergency landing on farm in Japan

The Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopter of US Marine Corps made an emergency landing on a farm road an island in the city of Uruma in Okinawa Prefecture, at around 7:40 p.m. on Friday (20st January).

That was reported by NHK.

According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, the “preventive landing” was made due to a glitch in the helicopter’s control system, leaving no injuries or damage to buildings nearby.

- ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW -

The AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter belongs to the Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in Ginowan, another city in the southernmost Japanese prefecture.

The inspection was carried out from 7 a.m. next day (21st January), and the AH-1Z Viper left the site at 11:15 to return to Futenma.

Readers who wish to follow our weekly coverage can subscribe to the Weekly Defense Roundup.

If you wish to report a grammatical or factual error in this article, please let us know by using the online form.

Executive Editor

Support The Defence Blog

Independent reporting takes resources. Join us on Patreon.

Become a patron

More Like This

U.S. Army buys more of its toughest Arctic combat vehicle

The U.S. Army awarded BAE Systems Land and Armaments a $35 million contract modification on June 30, 2026, for additional production of the general-purpose...

AEVEX wins $50M deal for GPS-resistant strike drones

AEVEX Corp. secured a $50 million contract from the United States Air Force on June 30, 2026, to continue expanding unmanned mission-support capabilities for...

U.S. Air Force spends $471M to fix tanker parts supply problem

The U.S. Air Force awarded a combined $471 million in contracts to 28 different companies on a single day, spreading the work of exchanging...

U.S. Navy orders $312M more of its anti-missile jamming system

Northrop Grumman secured a $312 million contract from the U.S. Navy on June 24, 2026, to produce additional Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program Block...

L3Harris wins $614M deal to keep elite aircraft safe from missiles

When a U.S. Special Operations helicopter or tiltrotor flies into hostile territory and an enemy radar locks onto it, the crew has seconds to...