Air Combat Command plans to send 12 F-22As and more than 250 airmen to the Japanese island of Okinawa in February, a deployment welcomed by US Pacific Air Forces, which is slated to get its own Raptors. However, the news fell flat with Okinawa officials, reports Stars and Stripes. Island leaders have been pushing for less aircraft training flights from the USAF F-15s already stationed there. The locals seem to be at odds with Japan defense officials, who plan to have the Japan Air Self Defense Force train with the F-22s.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.