Photo/Illutration The U.S. Kadena Air Base is located next to a heavily populated residential area of Okinawa Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

KADENA, Okinawa Prefecture--The aging fleet of mainstay U.S. F-15 fighter jets at Kadena Air Base is gradually being withdrawn from service and replaced by a rotational deployment of some of the most advanced aircraft in the U.S. military arsenal.

Of the 50 or so F-15 fighter jets that had been assigned to Kadena, only about 20 remained as of the end of September following a decision the previous December to fly the jets back to bases in the United States for decommissioning, according to the Okinawa Defense Bureau.

The decommissioning process is expected to take about two years.

Fourteen F-22 fighter jets were flown to Kadena from bases in the United States last November to replace the F-15s. The supersonic all-weather stealth fighter jet is the most sophisticated aircraft in the U.S. fleet.

Twelve F-16 fighter jets were brought to Kadena from bases in Germany in January.

All the F-22s and F-16s returned to their original bases after 12 F-35A fighter jets arrived in Kadena in March and 24 F-15E jets arrived between April and May from bases in the United States.

Col. Nicholas Evans, commander of the 18th Wing of the U.S. Air Force at Kadena Air Base, pointed out that the deployment of the F-35A and F-15E jets to Kadena meant “no concerns about the capabilities” at the base and that the U.S. Air Force was “ready to execute any mission that we’re tasked to do.”

In the event of an attack on Kadena by China, Evans said, “The United States and Japan have the ability to operate from different dispersed locations and still be able to execute.”

The U.S. Air Force operates what it calls Agile Combat Employment (ACE) to scatter deployed air power to reduce the risk of attack by enemy long-range missiles.

A November 2022 report by the U.S. Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) said “Okinawa (where Kadena is based) is one of the most vulnerable hubs, due to its close proximity to large volumes of missiles and munitions from” China.

The rotational deployment of the most advanced aircraft to Kadena, as well as training exercises in various parts of the Indo-Pacific region by the U.S. Air Force, is intended to address that vulnerability.

The future focus for Kadena will be aircraft deployment after all the F-15s are decommissioned.

The CSBA report recommended that by 2030 the original 50 or so F-15s be replaced by at least 24 F-15EX fighter jets.

But the U.S. Air Force has not divulged the number of jets it plans to deploy in the future or the composition of the fleet.

The Okinawa Defense Bureau on Oct. 6 explained to local governments hosting Kadena Air Base that eight MQ-9 Reaper drones temporarily deployed at the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kanoya Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture by the U.S. Air Force would be moved to Kadena, with drone operations beginning in November.

An expert said the new deployment plans should lead to a reduction of the U.S. military base burden on Okinawa.

Fumiaki Nozoe, an associate professor of international politics at Okinawa International University, pointed out that the government had considered concentrating U.S. military bases in Okinawa as a form of deterrence.

“But due to the military and political weakness of concentrating military bases in Okinawa, dispersing and reducing the burden will be for the sake not only of Okinawa, but Japan’s national security as well,” Nozoe said.

(This article was written by Taro Ono and Takashi Watanabe.)

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