An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the US Air Force's 52nd Fighter Wing crashed near Spangdahlem Air Base in western Germany on Tuesday afternoon. The US military confirmed the incident and said the pilot ejected safely and is receiving medical care.

The crash occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time (12:30 UTC). The cause of the incident is under investigation, the military said in a statement, with fire and emergency response personnel dispatched to the scene.

Germany's air traffic control authority said four F-16s had been taking part in a training exercise at the time of the crash. Two aircraft were still in the training area, while two were returning to Spangdahlem Air Base.

"One of these two jets is believed to have crashed while on approach," the authority said, adding that the remaining F-16s had landed at Ramstein Air Base.

Local authorities in the Eifel District of Bitburg-Prüm confirmed that at least one person had been injured. Emergency teams were dispatched to the crash site following the incident.

"Following a plane crash in the vicinity of US Air Base Spangdahlem, fire and emergency response teams from the Eifel District of Bitburg-Prüm were dispatched to the scene," the district said in a statement on its website.

"No comments can be made on the further details of the event from the side of the Eifel district at this time," it added.

Spangdahlem Air Base is a NATO operations center located north of the city of Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, close to the Luxembourg border. It was built in the early 1950s and is home to the US Air Force's 52nd Fighter Wing, which operates a squadron of around 20 F-16 aircraft.

The base employs approximately 5,000 US military and civilian personnel, plus dependents, along with around 700 to 800 German staff. It is considered one of the most strategically important US military airfields in Germany, alongside Ramstein Air Base near Kaiserslautern.