Nearly 100 airmen and six F-16s from the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa AB, Japan, arrived at the Japan Air Self Defense Force’s base at Chitose on the northern island of Hokkaido, according to a release. The Misawa contingent, which touched down on July 8, is there for a week of air combat training with Japanese F-15Js as part of an aviation training relocation mission, states the July 9 release. As part of the training, the F-16s simulated an incursion into the airspace around Chitose, to which the F-15Js responded. (Misawa report by SrA. Derek Van Horn)
The Florida ANG's 125th Fighter Wing welcomed its first three F-35A jets on March. 4 as the Air Force aims to make the fifth-gen fighters as the “primary aircraft securing the southeastern U.S.”