The Air Force keeps pace with the rotating fighter aircraft at Keystone Base on Okinawa

An F-16C Fighting Falcon assigned to the 77th Fighter Squadron takes off from North Auxiliary Airfield, S.C., May 14, 2024. (Dallin Wrye/US Air Force)

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – Additional F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-22 Raptors arrived at the 18th Wing's home over the weekend as part of the Air Force's plan to retire retired F-15 Eagles with rotating squadrons.

Twelve Fighting Falcons from the 77th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., arrived in Kadena on Friday, 18th Wing spokeswoman Maj. Alli Stormer wrote in an email Monday.

They were joined by six Raptors from the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, who arrived Saturday and Sunday, she wrote.

“While stationed at Kadena Air Base, the 4th and 5th generation fighters will work in conjunction with other heavy and reconnaissance units at Kadena to ensure continued robust combat capabilities in the region,” Stormer said.

Since formally retiring its legacy F-15s in December 2022, the squadron has rotated fighter squadrons of more modern fighter aircraft through Kadena to provide coverage at a base it describes as the “cornerstone of the Pacific.” Okinawa lies northeast of Taiwan on the eastern edge of the East China Sea.

Six Raptors arrived from the 27th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, in April. They continued to serve alongside the newcomers to the base, Stormer wrote.

Squadrons of F-35As from Alaska and Utah, F-16CM Fighting Falcons from Germany, F-15Cs from California and Louisiana, and F-15E Strike Eagles from North Carolina and Idaho have also served at the base.

Raptors from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam's 199th and 19th Fighter Squadrons returned to Hawaii Sept. 30 after serving in Kadena for six months.

In June, the Air Force announced it would permanently deploy 36 F-15EX Eagles to Okinawa to replace the older F-15s as part of a broader plan to deploy more advanced fighter aircraft across Japan in the next few years.

Four F-15C Eagles departed Kadena on August 24. Some were assigned to other units; others went to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Arizona, the “Boneyard,” the wing announced Aug. 26.

No date has been set for the final departure of the remaining Eagles from Kadena, the wing said.

F-22 Raptors based in Kadena have been involved in mishaps this year.

A Raptor made a precautionary landing at the base Thursday, following another precautionary landing from Langley-Eustis last month. No injuries or damage to the runway and wing were reported in either incident.

In May, a Raptor rolled off a paved apron after being towed into a parking space. Weeks earlier, one was damaged when its nose gear collapsed while being towed along the Kadena flight line.