Two Air Force F-15EX Eagle IIs assigned to the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron taxi after landing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, July 16, 2025. (Arnet Tamayo/U.S. Air Force)
The first F-15EX Eagle II multirole fighters may arrive on Okinawa in 2027, almost a year behind their original delivery schedule, according to the Air Force’s top civilian.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink updated the advanced fighter’s delivery date in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a May 21 hearing about the service’s proposed 2027 budget.
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., asked about the plan to “stand up the two squadrons at Kadena Air Base, Japan, as quickly as possible.”
“I think we actually deliver the first aircraft next year,” Meink said, before checking with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach and receiving confirmation. “We finish by ’28 or ’29.”
Meink’s spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, in an email Tuesday said she had no specific dates and that the service is “waiting on the contractor’s delivery schedule.”
The Air Force announced plans in July 2024 to permanently station 36 of the multirole fighters with the 18th Wing on Okinawa to replace an aging fleet of 48 F-15C/D aircraft.
The Air Force in February delayed delivery of the multirole fighters due to a strike at Boeing’s St. Louis plant between Aug. 4 and Nov. 17. The aircraft were expected to arrive between March and June.
Deliveries to the Portland, Ore., Air National Guard Base resumed in December, according to a Dec. 15 news release from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. The first operational F-15EX aircraft were unveiled at the base in June.
“Boeing has fallen behind a bit,” Meink said. “A lot of it’s due to the strike, but we’re working closely with them to increase production to get well beyond two per month.”
The move is part of a broader effort to deploy more advanced combat aircraft across Japan. An undisclosed number of F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters arrived March 28 at Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan, the first of 48 planned to replace the base’s fleet of 36 F-16s.
The F-15EX is not stealthy but features next-generation avionics and networking capabilities and can fly faster, farther and carry a larger payload than earlier F-15 variants, according to Boeing.
The Air Force began rotating fighter squadrons to Kadena in late 2022 as it phased out its aging F-15C/D fleet. The rotations have included F-35As, F-22 Raptors, F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons.
Two F-22 squadrons – the 27th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and the 90th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska – arrived at Kadena this month, according to the wing.
F-16s with the 120th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron from Buckley Space Force Base, Colo., arrived in January.
Timelines for the final rotational deployments will be determined closer to the F-15EX’s delivery, Stefanek said.
