The recent F-22 deployment to Yokota AB, Japan, was part of a “previously scheduled training deployment,” not a reaction to recent activity by the North Korean regime, the Pentagon said Thursday. Eight F-22s deployed to Yokota on Jan. 20 for a drill lasting until Jan. 22, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said the Raptors, which are deployed from JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, are at Yokota to “enhance our ability to fulfill our treaty obligations to defend Japan and promote stability throughout the region.” F-16s also are reportedly joining the Raptors on the deployment.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
