[Llarry]

We've discussed the U.S. Air Force's tactical aircraft presence in the Western Pacific a couple of times. The 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, is right in the thick of the great power competition going on with China's military buildup. The 18th originally was assigned three F-15C squadrons with 72 aircraft; first it lost one of its three squadrons but maintained two fighter squadrons with 48 F-15s for many years. As the sunset for the F-15C nears, the 18th is now down to just a few old F-15Cs and the Air Force has been filling the gap by deploying fighters to Kadena on a temporary basis. Most recently a sizeable group of F-22A Raptors has been deployed, along with a smaller number of F-16Cs.

The 18th Wing recently conducted an elephant walk where all available aircraft start up and taxi out. Here's a photo. You can see just several F-15s, a number of F-16s and an even larger number of F-22s. There are also tankers and E-3 radar planes in the photo and leading the way are a couple of helicopters. Very impressive -- and I'm sure that the Chinese took notice.