U.S. Deploys F-22 Stealth Fighters to Japan Ahead of Trump Kim Summit
Channel: U.S.Military Technology
Date: 2018-06-15

The U.S. has deployed over a dozen F-22 fighter jets to Okinawa for the first time in more than three years.

The United States Air Force (USAF) has dispatched 14 Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fifth-generation stealth air superiority fighter jets from Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa for a four-week rotational deployment ahead of the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore.

The deployment is seen as a way to exert pressure on Pyongyang over its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs as the North Korean leadership considers fifth-generations stealth fighter jets as “strategic assets” capable of launching strikes against targets inside North Korea in the event of a conflict. The F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine, stealth air-superiority fighter with ground-attack capabilities.