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.
The Pentagon’s cost estimate for the Iran War has risen to $37.5 billion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a congressional committee July 21—and without emergency supplemental funding, the military will have to “curtail” training to cover those costs, he added.