Eight more F-22 stealth fighters arrive in Japan
Pastor Dale Morgan
Eight more F-22 stealth fighters arrive in Japan*
Reuters
Sunday, February 18, 2007; 9:38 AM
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (Reuters) - The United States sent eight more
U.S. F-22 stealth fighter planes to the southern Japanese island of
Okinawa on Sunday in their first full deployment overseas.
The Raptors, the U.S. Air Force's most advanced fighters and said to be
the most expensive fighter planes ever built, arrived at the U.S. Kadena
Air Base in Okinawa, a Reuters photographer and a TV cameraman said.
Their arrival was a week later than originally scheduled, although on
Saturday an advance pair of F-22 Raptors landed.
Dozens of activists gathered near the air base to protest the deployment
in Japan of the stealth fighter planes. "Raptors, go home!" they
repeatedly shouted in chorus.
Ten Raptors had been expected to land in Japan on Sunday, but only eight
arrived. U.S. Air Force officials said the other two stealth fighter
planes had landed on Wake Island, Hawaii, because one of the planes had
trouble with its generator.
A U.S. military spokesman earlier denied a report that the delay was due
to a demand from North Korea during six-country talks on its nuclear
arms programmed in Beijing, which ended last Tuesday 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.
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 it was still not "operationally suitable"
because its defensive avionics had response-time and
threat-identification problems.
The Raptors 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.
The airplane's first overseas deployment would help acquaint U.S. forces
in the Pacific region with the new war fighter and allow joint training
with F-16, F-15E and F-18 fighter jets in the region, Lt. Col. Wade
Tolliver, commander of the 27th Fighter Squadron of F-22s, said last month.