An F-22A Raptor assigned to the 27th Fighter Squadron lands at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, April 20, 2024. (Cedrique Oldaker/U.S. Air Force)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — An F-22 Raptor made a “precautionary landing” at the home of the 18th Wing on Friday afternoon, according to an Air Force spokesman.
The $350 million jet, assigned to the 27th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and deployed to the wing, touched down at 12:28 p.m., 18th Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Robert Dabbs told Stars and Stripes by email a few hours after the incident.
The Raptor “landed safely without incident,” and no injuries or significant damage to the aircraft or runway were reported, he said.
Dabbs would not say what the aircraft was doing before it landed, citing security concerns. He also would not comment on what forced the jet to come down.
“Precautionary landings are a standard procedure when pilots notice something out of the ordinary with their aircraft,” he wrote. “We are committed to conducting safe flight operations as we uphold our defense commitments.”
A photo published Friday by the Okinawa Times newspaper shows firefighters standing near a Raptor at Kadena. The report, which did not cite sources, said one of the fighter’s engines had stopped.
The landing is the latest mishap involving an F-22 deployed to Kadena on a rotational basis.
In May, a Raptor rolled off the paved apron after it was towed into a parking space, the wing said at the time. Weeks earlier, a Raptor was damaged when its nose gear collapsed while being towed on Kadena’s flight line.
Since officially bidding farewell to its F-15s in December 2022, the wing has rotated fighter squadrons of more advanced warplanes through Kadena to guarantee coverage at a base it calls the “keystone of the Pacific,” situated northeast of Taiwan on the eastern edge of the East China Sea.
This includes six Raptors from the 27th Fighter Squadron that arrived in April to join Raptors from the Hawaii-based 199th and 19th Fighter Squadrons that came in March.
Four F-15C Eagles departed Kadena on Aug. 24, with some being reassigned to other units. Others were headed to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Arizona – the “boneyard” – to be dismantled, the 18th Wing announced Aug. 26.
It has not been determined when the final flight of the remaining Eagles out of Kadena will take place, the wing said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.
