F-15EX returns to Kadena as U.S. Air Force shifts to newer airpower
By
Colton Jones
Jul 2, 2026
Modified date: Jul 2, 2026
Key Points
An F-15EX Eagle II and two F-15E Strike Eagles from the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron arrived at Kadena Air Base on June 29, 2026.
The Air Force now expects the first permanent F-15EX jets at Kadena in 2027, later than the originally planned spring 2026.
The combat jet that is supposed to replace an aging fighter fleet on the front lines of the Pacific flew back into Okinawa this week, months after the Air Force quietly admitted its permanent arrival has slipped by a year. An F-15EX Eagle II, escorted by two F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft, landed at Kadena Air Base, Japan, on June 29, 2026, all three jets belonging to the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron out of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, according to Pacific Air Forces.
The visit marks the second time the Eagle II has flown into Kadena for training, following its first appearance there on July 12, 2025, and it gives pilots, maintainers, and support crews another chance to work with the jet that will eventually replace the base’s retired F-15C/D fleet before the aircraft becomes a permanent fixture at the base.
When the Pentagon announced in July 2024 that it would station 36 F-15EX Eagle IIs at Kadena to replace the 48 aging F-15C/D fighters flown by the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadrons, officials targeted spring 2026 for the first jets to show up. A labor strike at Boeing’s St. Louis production plant, which ran from August 4 to November 17, 2025, pushed that schedule back, and Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 21, 2026, that the service now expects to deliver the first aircraft to Kadena in 2027, with the full transition wrapping up by 2028 or 2029, roughly a year behind the original plan. In the meantime, Kadena has leaned on rotating squadrons of F-22s, F-16s, and F-35s to keep a credible fighter presence on the island, a stopgap arrangement that has already stretched well beyond what anyone anticipated when the last active-duty F-15C flew its final Air Force flight at the base on January 24, 2025, closing out 45 years of Eagle operations there.
https://defence-blog.com/f-15ex-returns-to-kadena-as-u-s-air-force-shifts-to-newer-airpower/
