U.S. to deploy 12 F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to Japan

January 14, 2014 Military Aviation
David Cenciotti

The U.S. Air Force has announced it is about to deploy “approximately 12 F-22 Raptors and about 300 personnel from Langley Air Force Base, Va.” to Kadena airbase, in Japan.

The deployment is expected in the next few days and its purpose is demonstrate Washington’s commitment to stability and security in the Asia-Pacific Region.

The aircraft will operate with the Kadena’s resident 18th Wing, which hosts the largest combat wing in the U.S. Air Force composed by F-15s, E-3s AWACS, KC-135s and HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters.

The USAF has been rotating fighters to Pacific Command bases since March 2004, “in order to maintain a prudent deterrent against threats to regional security and stability,” according to the statement on the Air Force’s website.

U.S. continues to provide a Theater Security Package in the region by routinely deploying aircraft to the Pacific, a theater characterized by regional disputes and China’s growing naval ambitions.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
About David Cenciotti
WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedIn instagram
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

Related Articles

5 Comments

  1. Does anyone else see the irony that the F-22 production line has been shutdown, while DOD shuttles the few we have from base to base in a sword rattling exercise

  2. So sad & so Stupid…the key air supremacy craft that needs to be out there to complement the F35 as the F15 compliments the F16…that production isn’t continueing is a crime, that it hasn’t been sold on tour allies is a crime…mostly its just gross negligence that our security has been so compromised!!

  5. 12 F-22 Raptors. Each carrying how many long-range missiles? Was it 4 or 6 missiles? What if 100 hundred Chinese fighters attack? F22 Raptors run out of long-range missiles. Is F22 good in close-combat dogfight?
    Better late than never: Alaskan Raptors are the first F-22s to be armed with the AIM-9X for dogfights! But what about F-22s in Japan?

Comments are closed.