President Trump said in an interview published Thursday that the U.S. flew three-dozen high-tech F-35 joint strike fighters directly over Tokyo in early February.
He told Time magazine that the flight happened as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was in Tokyo on Feb. 3-4 to reassure a long-time ally about the administration's intentions and to meet with Japan President Shinzo Abe and other top officials.
"They flew over and everyone said where the hell did they come from? That's stealth. It's pretty cool, right," he said, according to the magazine's transcript. "Thirty-five of them flying at a high speed, low, and they were not detected. They flew right over the top of the deal, nobody knew they were coming."
But at that time only 10 of the aircraft were deployed to the country, according to Feb.16 testimony by a top Marine Corps official. The Pentagon did not comment on Trump's statement on Friday.