JAPAN: Eight of the U.S. Air Force's most advanced fighter jets arrive in Japan's Okinawa

Record ID: 463754

  • Title: JAPAN: Eight of the U.S. Air Force's most advanced fighter jets arrive in Japan's Okinawa
  • Date: 18th February 2007
  • Summary: LOCAL PROTESTORS OUTSIDE THE BASE
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAEB9VEIX46QGZHP9ATW293LOXW
  • Story Text: Eight U.S. F-22 Raptors touched down at an airbase in Japan's southern island of Okinawa on Sunday (February 18, 2007), following two which arrived earlier on Saturday (February 17) and minus two that were supposed to have joined the group landing Sunday.
    A total of twelve Raptors -- said to be the most expensive fighter planes ever built -- had been scheduled to arrive in Japan a week ago. The planes are able to gather data from multiple sources to track, identify and kill air-to-air threats before being detected by radar, and have significant surface-strike capability, according to the U.S. Air Force Web site.
    A U.S. military spokesman had denied a report that the original delay in the arrival of the fighter planes was due to any demand from North Korea during six-party talks on its nuclear arms programme in Beijing that ended on Tuesday (February 13) with an energy-for-arms deal.
    The U.S. Air Force first cited "operational reasons" as the cause of the delay of the three-month deployment, then said it was because of software problems.
    But that explaination failed to convince local protestors who say the presence of these high-tech planes raises tensions unnecessarily in the region.
    "We locals don't believe the current situation isn't one that warrants the deployment of such high tech fighter planes,war isn't around the corner here," said Seiyu Nakamura, leader of the protestors.
    U.S. Air Force General Ronald Keys said last month that the F-22 was combat-ready, rejecting a report by the Pentagon's Office of Operational Test and Evaluation that said the F-22 was still not "operationally suitable" because its defensive avionics had response time and threat identification problems.
    However troubles continue to trouble the F22's as two raptors have been delayed and are still mid-way from Okinawa and in Hawaii.
    Leader of the squadron, Wade Tolliver explained what had caused the delay. "One of the aircraft had a small malfunction and as a precautionary (measure) we chose to go ahead and land those guys without them coming here on the full trip. The other aircraft is in perfect condition and it just escorted the guy in, is all he had done. and that's typical of how we do everything in F16s, F15s or any other fighter. As soon as we get those guys fixed they should be coming on this way. I should expect them to be here probably by Tuesday," he said.
    The six-party talks in Beijing ended on Tuesday with a deal requiring Pyongyang to close its Yongbyon reactor within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tons of fuel oil or equivalent aid.
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