The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Has Arrived in Asia: It’s one of the world’s largest potential aerial combat theaters.
Northeast Asia could someday become a flashpoint with fighter jets from the United States, China, and Japan piercing through the skies in search of kills.
F-22 Raptor Photo Take At the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. 19FortyFive.com Photo. Taken on July 20, 2025.
That’s why realistic training from air forces in the region is paramount. The United States is doing this job adroitly as ever.
On August 3, U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors from two rotating squadrons served in a readiness exercise at Kadena Air Base in Japan as battle planners examined how the fifth-generation fighters can best conduct themselves in a war.
Pilots and ground crews from the 27th and 90th Expeditionary Fighter Squadrons showed that they meant business during the drills.
Air Exercise ‘BB 26-1’
This was the latest iteration of Exercise Beverly Beach 26-1 for Kadena’s 18th Wing this week. All personnel involved flew multiple sorties to improve operational tempo.
These flights needed to be as realistic as possible for all officers and airmen to improve their skills.
“We’re getting a lot of local flying to build our combat readiness,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Brenden Torphy, 27th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron director of operations. “Exercises like this allow us to train under realistic conditions and ensure we’re ready to defend Kadena, our allies and our partners whenever we’re called upon,” according to an Air Force news release.
How Agile Can the Air Force Be?
The concept is called “agile combat employment principles.” The stakes were high during these flights. The Americans know that they must be at the top of their game to prove that they have the right stuff for any contingency in the Indo-Pacific.
F-15EX Eagle II Is Waiting in the Wings
Kadena is an important installation for Air Force strategy and future operations. The 18th Wing’s F-15C/Ds finally left the base after serving valiantly for years.
In their place will be the new F-15EX Eagle IIs. This is a fourth-generation “++” fighter that will have its work cut out for it. The F-15EXs won’t enter their permanent role until 2027, after a 12-month delay.
However, at least one pilot and ground crew were busy when a single F-15EX visited the base in June to help familiarize personnel with the new airplane.
This comes at a time when the permanent 48 F-15Cs and Ds in Kadena will be rotated out for good after seeing numerous patrols in Okinawa, Japan, and the South China Sea.
Kadena Is A Critical Base to Protect Taiwan
Kadena is the closest installation to Taiwan, which is about 450 miles away. The allied nations must form an impenetrable aerial arc around Taiwan, which is constantly being harassed by China as Xi Jinping ponders even more aggressive moves.
F-15EX Puts the Fast in ‘Fast Mover’
The F-15EX cannot arrive soon enough for Kadena, and the Eagle II will be a significant upgrade. The new fighter jet is not fully stealthy like the F-22, but it has enhanced avionics, a blistering MACH 2.5 top speed, and a nearly 30,000-pound weapons payload.
The Eagle II will help the Americans respond to stealth jets like the Chinese J-20 Mighty Dragon that could outfly the old F-15C/Ds.
Fourth and Fifth-Generation Fighter Combo
The F-15EX will have to be a Day One airplane if war with China sparked. But additional F-22s at Kadena could help turn the tide during large dogfights. Plus, there are F-35s stationed at Misawa Air Base in Japan.
“There is no substitute for a fifth-generation fighter,” said retired Col. J.V. Venable, senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “It is a complete package of collection, computation power and the ability to disseminate that and then employ in a way that no other fighter in the world can do,” according to Air and Space Forces.
Operational Use Case for the F-15EX
The F-15EX will have to prove that its great speed and maneuverability can outweigh the disadvantage of not being as stealthy as the F-22 and F-35.
I have always considered the F-15EX a Day Two asset for initial use once air superiority has been established.
The Air Force has other plans, and it appears the Eagle II would fly at the very beginning of conflict due to its impressive attributes and interoperability with the F-22 and F-35.
“Any fourth-generation fighter can carry pretty substantial firepower, but it’s going to be riding on the skirts of fifth generation, and the fifth-generation [feature] that people kind of miss out on is … what those airplanes can see from a distance is just amazing,” Venable said.
Let’s Get the F-15EX to the Indo-Pacific Pronto
The combination of the F-22, F-35, and F-15EX flying together is interesting to foresee as the Air Force ramps up its number of Eagle IIs.
One valuable consideration is the future performance of Air National Guard units that will fly the new fighter.
If a shooting war breaks out, the reservists can quickly deploy a squadron of F-15EXs to East Asia for badly needed reinforcements.
So the F-15EX could be both a Day One fighter for rapid response or kept in reserve until the Air National Guard can ferry more planes to the theater of operations.
This gives Air Force battle planners more options as they ponder a longer-term conflict. Now, the Air Force must oversee better procurement efforts for the F-15EX program and find ways to produce it faster.
China is always scheming against Taiwan, and Kadena will be a pivotal proving ground for American fighter pilots flying fifth- and fourth-generation fighters against a determined group of Chinese aviators in future war scenarios.
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About the Author: Brent M. Eastwood, PhD
Author of now over 3,600 articles on defense issues, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: A Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for US Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former US Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
