A crew chief conducts pre-flight checks on an F-22A Raptor at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Oct. 10, 2024. (Luis Rios Calderon/U.S. Air Force)
Tire problems plagued two Air Force stealth fighters on the same afternoon last week at Kadena Air Base, where one Raptor lost two tires while landing and another lost one prior to takeoff.
Both situations were “safely resolved, with no injuries or significant damage to report,” 18th Wing spokeswoman Maj. Alli Stormer told Stars and Stripes by email Monday.
One of the $350 million advanced aircraft experienced “two tire failures” while landing at 1:45 p.m. at the base on Okinawa, Stormer wrote.
The pilot made a “precautionary landing,” she said.
Stormer confirmed that another F-22 “experienced a tire malfunction prior to take-off.” She did not specify the time or nature of the malfunction.
However, four photos posted on social platform X at 12:55 Friday by tailspotter @ma6400 purport to show a tire blowout on the Raptor’s take-off roll and the aircraft subsequently taxiing from the runway.
Tail markings indicate the aircraft belongs to an Alaska-based squadron. Six Raptors from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson arrived at Kadena the first weekend in October, Stormer said at the time.
She declined Monday to identify which units the aircraft belong to or what missions they were assigned when the tires failed, citing security concerns.
“Precautionary landings are a standard procedure when pilots notice something out of the ordinary with their aircraft,” she wrote. “We are committed to conducting safe flight operations as we uphold our defense commitments.”
Squadrons of advanced fighters have rotated through Kadena on temporary duty since December 2022, when the Air Force announced a plan to replace aging F-15C/D Eagles at the base it deems the “keystone of the Pacific.”
Okinawa is northeast of Taiwan on the eastern edge of the East China Sea.
The six fighters from the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in Alaska joined Raptors from the Virginia-based 27th Fighter Squadron that came in April.
The tire failures are the latest mishaps, and the third and fourth in a month involving an F-22 deployed to Kadena on a rotational basis.
One Raptor made a precautionary landing at the base early this month, following another last month by a Raptor deployed from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. No injuries or damage to the runway were reported in either incident, the wing said at the time.
