DRAUGHON RANGE, Japan — The Air Force recently put Misawa Air Base’s new F-35A Lightning IIs through their paces alongside the F-16s they are replacing, giving hundreds of troops and family members a closeup look at the fighter wing’s changing combat operations.
Four F-35As and two F-16 Fighting Falcons took part in the base’s Range Day on Friday at this coastal training area in northeastern Japan.
The first Air Force F-35As arrived at Misawa in March as the 35th Fighter Wing began replacing its 36 F-16s with 48 of the fifth-generation fighters.
The wing will retain its “Wild Weasel” mission of suppressing and destroying enemy air defenses. Commanders have described the F-35A’s stealth and ability to combine information from multiple sensors as particularly suited to the mission.
A 35th Fighter Wing airman helps arm an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 11, 2026.
(Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
Range Day began with a weapons-loading demonstration at Misawa. Rock music blasted inside a hangar as airmen and their families watched crews arm an F-16 and F-35A with training missiles and bombs.
The action later shifted to nearby Draughon Range, where visitors examined survival, evasion, resistance and escape gear and night-vision equipment and displays showcasing other local units while waiting for the fighters to arrive.
A roar of engines announced the F-16s, which swept over the range, dropped practice bombs, strafed targets with inert rounds and released flares in front of about 500 spectators gathered on grassy mounds.
The F-35As followed, roaring overhead and strafing targets during low-level passes around the range.
Service members and their families watch fighter jets bomb and strafe targets at Draughon Range, just north of Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 11, 2026. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing flies over Draughon Range, just north of Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 11, 2026. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing bombs Draughon Range, just north of Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 11, 2026. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
Smoke rises after an F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing bombed Draughon Range, just north of Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 11, 2026. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
F-35A pilot Maj. Matthew “Diablo” Petersen said the demonstration brought together skills pilots normally practice separately.
“We have multiple strafe and multiple bomb-dropping areas,” he told reporters at the range. “What the range allows us to do is take some of the parallel training we do and actually drop weapons and shoot the guns at the ground, which is one of the more difficult things we do.”
Range Day also gives airmen a chance to show their families and others in the base community what they do, particularly those who do not regularly see the aircraft train, Petersen said.
He described the rivalry between Misawa’s F-16 and F-35 pilots as “collegial” and less pronounced than at some other installations where he has served.
Misawa airmen have worked hard to bring the new F-35As to Range Day, Petersen added.
“The vibes are exceptionally high today,” he said.
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