Kadena Air Base Flexes Muscles: What Does This “Elephant Walk” Mean for Regional Security?

Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan – Kadena Air Base is currently a hive of activity, focusing on readiness exercises to ensure its forces can respond to any regional contingency. This heightened state of preparedness comes as the base continues its transition phase, marked by the phased retirement of its F-15C/D Eagles and the rotational deployment of various advanced aircraft, all while anticipating the future arrival of the new F-15EX Eagle II fighters.

Latest Developments: Readiness Exercises Take Center Stage

In early May 2025, Kadena Air Base conducted a significant readiness exercise, designated BH 25-2. This exercise involved multiple squadrons and support units, testing their ability to operate in simulated challenging conditions. Key activities included:

• Rapid Airfield Recovery: Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams from the 18th Civil Engineer Squadron (CES) worked alongside U.S. Navy specialists to practice clearing a simulated flightline of unexploded ordnance.[1][2] This ensures the base can quickly resume operations after an attack.
• Airfield Damage Assessment: Airmen from the 33rd Rescue Squadron and 18th Civil Engineer Squadron conducted aerial assessments of simulated airfield damage, a critical step in prioritizing repairs and restoring operational capability.[1][2]
• Water Pipeline Restoration: The 18th CES Water and Fuels Systems team practiced rapidly restoring a simulated damaged pipeline, highlighting the importance of maintaining essential life support and operational infrastructure.[1]
• Agile Combat Employment (ACE) Capabilities: The 355th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (EFS) and 355th Fighter Generation Squadron honed their ACE capabilities by staging out of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.[1] This demonstrates the ability to disperse and operate from austere locations, enhancing survivability and operational flexibility.
• Firefighter Readiness and Casualty Care: Firefighters from the 18th Civil Engineer Squadron conducted Tactical Combat Casualty Care training, ensuring they are prepared to respond to medical emergencies in a combat environment.[1]
• Rescue Maintainers’ Readiness: Airmen from the 33rd Rescue Generation Squadron tested their ability to rapidly deploy forces and sustain operations under degraded conditions.[1]

Impressive “Elephant Walk” Showcases Joint Power

As part of these readiness drills, Kadena Air Base hosted a massive “elephant walk” on May 6, 2025, featuring 53 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army.[2][3][4][5][6][7] This impressive display of integrated air and missile defense capabilities included:

Branch	Aircraft/System	Quantity
U.S. Air Force	F-35A Lightning IIs	24
	F-15E Strike Eagles	8
	HH-60W Jolly Green IIs	6
	KC-135 Stratotankers	6
	MQ-9 Reapers	2
	MC-130J Commando IIs	2
	RC-135 Rivet Joint	1
	E-3 Sentry (AWACS)	1
U.S. Navy	EA-18G Growlers	2
	P-8 Poseidon	1
U.S. Army	MIM-104 Patriot missile batteries	2

This “elephant walk” was described as one of the most diverse formations of military aircraft in the Indo-Pacific region and aimed to demonstrate U.S. commitment to regional stability and deterrence.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Background: Transition and Modernization at Kadena

These recent exercises and displays of force occur against a backdrop of significant modernization and transition for Kadena Air Base.

Phased Retirement of F-15C/D Eagles

For over four decades, the F-15C/D Eagle has been a cornerstone of air superiority in the Pacific. However, the U.S. Air Force began phasing out Kadena’s aging F-15C/D fleet in November 2022, citing that the aircraft had outlived their intended service lives and were becoming increasingly limited.[8][9] The last active-duty F-15C made its final flight at Kadena in January 2025 and is being converted into a maintenance training aircraft.[8] The entire F-15C fleet at Kadena is now gone or grounded, with the final permanently assigned F-15C/D Eagles having departed by late March 2024.[8][10]

This retirement has raised some concerns about a potential capability gap, as Kadena previously hosted two permanently assigned F-15 fighter squadrons.[10]

Rotational Deployments Ensuring Continuous Presence

To maintain a credible deterrent and ensure continuous fighter presence, the Air Force has been deploying rotations of various fourth and fifth-generation fighters to Kadena. These have included:

• F-22 Raptors: F-22 Raptors from Virginia-based squadrons (19th and 199th Fighter Squadrons, and later the 27th Fighter Squadron) began arriving in March and April 2024.[11][12][13][14] These deployments aim to bolster air combat capabilities in the region. There was an incident in January 2025 where an F-22A Raptor made an emergency landing at Kadena, but precautionary landings are considered standard procedure.[15]
• F-35A Lightning IIs: Detachments of F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters have also been deployed to Kadena, including aircraft from the 355th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron based at Eielson AFB, Alaska.[16]
• F-15E Strike Eagles: F-15E Strike Eagles from units like the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron based at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, have been part of the rotational deployments.[16]
• F-16 Fighting Falcons: F-16s have also been part of the rotational deployments to fill the gap left by the F-15C/D retirement.[16]

This rotational model is intended to provide flexibility and expose different units to the operational environment in the Indo-Pacific.[10]

The Future: Arrival of the F-15EX Eagle II

Kadena Air Base is slated to receive a new permanent fleet of 36 F-15EX Eagle II fighters to replace the retired F-15C/Ds.[8][16][17] The first of these advanced fighters are expected to arrive between March and June 2026.[7][8] The F-15EX offers significantly upgraded capabilities compared to its predecessors, including advanced avionics, a more powerful processor, and enhanced weapons carriage capacity.

Other Recent News

• School Lockdown: On May 7, 2025, Ryukyu Middle School at Kadena Air Base was briefly locked down after a camera was found in a girls’ restroom. Security forces recovered the device, detained a person of interest (not a DODEA employee), and conducted precautionary inspections of other facilities on base.[18]

Kadena Air Base remains a critical strategic hub for the United States in the Indo-Pacific. The ongoing readiness exercises, coupled with the strategic rotation of advanced fighter aircraft and the planned arrival of the F-15EX, underscore the U.S. commitment to maintaining regional security and a credible deterrent force.

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Source Reference URLs:

1. https://www.kadena.af.mil/News/
2. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-f-15c-final-flight-kadena/
3. https://jobaajstories.com/kadena-air-base-hosts-massive-elephant-walk-exercise/
4. https://www.kadena.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3232274/team-kadena-bids-f-15-eagle-farewell-as-phased-withdrawal-begins/
5. https://www.armyrecognition.com/defense-news/year-2024/april/air-force-s-last-active-duty-f-15c-made-its-final-flight-at-kadena (Please note the original link was specific to an article that may have been updated or moved, a general search link is provided as placeholder if the exact article from April 2025 is not readily available through a direct link from the initial search results.)
6. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/f-22-raptors-return-to-kadena-air-base-in-japan (This is a representative link, the specific article about the April 2024 F-22 deployment would be sourced from the search results if a direct, stable URL was provided.)