The dozen Raptor stealth fighters will soon be joined by 14 F-16s from the 18th Aggressor Squadron, based at Eielson AFB, Alaska, and will be involved in a previously scheduled joint training in Japan.
Although it’s still not clear whether the aircraft belong to an Air Force Theater Security Package (TSP), their presence in the region will also “promote” stability amid growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific theater following North Korea’s nuclear test on Jan. 6 and the election of a pro-independence president in Taiwan.
F-22s often deploy to Japan since the USAF has started rotating fighters to Pacific Command bases in March 2004 “to maintain a prudent deterrent against threats to regional security and stability.”
However, the stealth jets usually deploy to Kadena airbase, in Okinawa, home of the 18th Wing, 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.
On Oct. 22, Yokota airbase in Japan, launched all its aircraft as part of a large formation mission. C-130 Hercules, UH-1 Hueys, and C-12 Hurons took off to show the installation‘s ability to provide support as the primary airlift hub for the Western Pacific theater.
In the image below, the aircraft perform a so-called Elephant Walk, taxiing in sequence for the active runway.
The following photograph shows the Hercules airlifters of the 374th Airlift Wing leaving smoke trails in the skies over Yokota.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
A Yokota based U.S. C-130 was tailed by Chinese J-7 and J-10 fighters as it reached the airspace close to the border between China and Japan on Jan. 10, 2013.
The following video was recorded on Dec. 14, from a C-130 with the 36th Airlift Squadron from Yokota Air Base, Japan, as the cargo plane (departed from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam) delivered humanitarian aid boxes to six locations in the Federated States of Micronesia as part of Operation Christmas Drop 2012.
Noteworthy, wheareas most of the boxes land on sort-of WWII airport’s runways, some are air dropped into the water making it a bit difficult to pick up.
Each year Operation Christamas Drop provides aid to more than 30,000 islanders in Chuuk, Palau, Yap, Marshall Islands and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
This year is the 61st anniversary of OCD, making it the longest running humanitarian mission in the world. Started on Dec. 10, in total, there are eight planned days of air drops, with 54 islands scheduled to receive humanitarian aid.
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