Reuters news service reported Sunday that the Air Force had delayed arrival of 12 F-22A Raptors at Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa. They were due to arrive over the weekend, following a temporary layover at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Air Combat Command’s 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley AFB, Va., has deployed the new fighters and some 250 airmen for a three-month deployment as part of a now-routine strike package sent to bolster US Pacific Command forces. There was no word as to when the deployment would continue.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
