Nearly 100 airmen and six F-16s from the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa AB, Japan, arrived at the Japan Air Self Defense Force’s base at Chitose on the northern island of Hokkaido, according to a release. The Misawa contingent, which touched down on July 8, is there for a week of air combat training with Japanese F-15Js as part of an aviation training relocation mission, states the July 9 release. As part of the training, the F-16s simulated an incursion into the airspace around Chitose, to which the F-15Js responded. (Misawa report by SrA. Derek Van Horn)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
