U.S. Air Force Announces Deployment of F-35A Light Multirole Fighters to Japan

The United States Air Force has announced that from November 2017 it will deploy a dozen F-35A stealth fighters and 300 accompanying airmen to Japan's Karena Air Base. The base is located on the small strategic island of Okinawa, where the vast majority of US forces in Japan are stationed. According to General Terrence O Shaughnessy, head of US Pacific Command, the F-35 will be "ideally suited to meet our command's obligations, and we look forward to integrating it into our training and operations."

This will be one of the first deployments of the Air Force's F-35A - the very first in the Asia-Pacific region, with the Marine Corps' F-35B having formerly deployed to Okinawa in limited numbers. Notorious for its high maintenance requirements and operational costs, numerous bugs and even design flaws, the F-35 program has been controversial at best. It is nevertheless forms the backbone of the U.S. attack strategies against both North Korea and China - both of which deploy numerous and advanced air defences such as the KN-06 and S-400. Should the fighters' performance prove to be below expectations it could seriously compromise the ability of the United States military to operate against such near peer adversaries.