An F-15E Strike Eagle comes in for the landing at Kadena Air Base on Monday, August 4, 2025. The fighter jet’s back right wheel is bare. (Hung-Hsin Hsu)
The 18th Wing is conducting safety inspections on all F-15E Strike Eagles deployed to Kadena Air Base after one of the multirole fighters safely landed there with a missing wheel this week.
Two airmen with the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., were uninjured after landing the aircraft at 6:40 p.m. Monday, according to a news release Wednesday from the 18th Wing. A safety investigation is underway.
Twelve of the squadron’s Strike Eagles arrived at Kadena in April for a duty rotation. All will return to flying “immediately following the inspection,” the release said.
“The way the aircrew handled the landing is a testament to their training and professionalism, and I want to thank the first responders and safety teams for being poised and ready to respond,” wing commander Brig. Gen. John Gallemore said in the release. “This event fortifies my confidence in Team Kadena’s ability to react to complex problems on a moment’s notice.”
The aircraft was en route to Okinawa from a deployment at U.S. Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, a remote island base in the Indian Ocean approximately 4,300 miles away, when the wheel was discovered to be missing, the release said. It was recovered on the flightline at Diego Garcia.
An F-15E Strike Eagle deployed to Kadena Air Base landed safely after one of its wheels was discovered missing in flight. (Hung-Hsin Hsu)
A photo provided to Stars and Stripes shows sparks flying from the missing right rear wheel as the aircraft touched down at Kadena. The runway has been inspected and is fully operational, according to the release.
Kadena has experienced issues with tires multiple times over the past year.
In April, an F-15E lost a tire while taxiing on the runway, according to the wing.
On Oct. 18, two F-22 Raptors were involved in separate incidents. One aircraft experienced two tire failures upon landing, while the other encountered a tire malfunction before takeoff, the wing said.
Since April, the Strike Eagles have operated out of Kadena alongside two F-35A Lightning II rotational squadrons from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.
The service instituted rotational fighter deployments to Kadena when it began phasing out the aging F-15C/D fleet there in late 2022.
In July 2024, the Air Force announced plans to permanently base 36 F-15EX Eagle IIs at Kadena. The new fighters are expected to begin arriving between March and June, former wing commander Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans told reporters in March.
