{"id":1726796,"date":"2022-11-06T06:30:16","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T11:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1726796"},"modified":"2022-11-06T23:29:04","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T04:29:04","slug":"why-is-the-pentagon-removing-fighter-jets-from-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-the-pentagon-removing-fighter-jets-from-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is the Pentagon Removing Fighter Jets from Japan?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-is-the-pentagon-removing-fighter-jets-from-japan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1726796&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Republican lawmakers are seeking an explanation from U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-military\">military<\/a> leadership about reports that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-pentagon\">Pentagon<\/a> is seeking to end the presence of dozens of fighter jets in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-japan\">Japan<\/a> without creating a new permanent force to replace them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2022\/10\/27\/air-force-to-replace-kadena-f-15-squadrons-with-rotational-fighters\/\">According<\/a> to Defense News, the Pentagon is planning to remove two squadrons of F-15C Eagle fighters that are currently stationed in Japan. The effort is intended to help modernize the military by phasing out old aircraft such as the F-15, which has been in service since 1976.<\/p>\n<p>The vacancy left by the maneuver, however, will only be covered by rotational forces and not a permanent fighter presence, leaving the close U.S. ally in a tight spot amid continuing tensions with communist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-china\">China<\/a> and North Korea.<\/p>\n<p>Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas) have sent a letter (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rubio.senate.gov\/public\/_cache\/files\/afe5d67d-0f67-42e3-ac04-a2a23ecbb685\/D9D9779A4044CC4A162EC74FD42454A9.11.01.22--rubio-et-al-letter-to-secdef-re-okinawa-f-15s.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) requesting that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin explain the Pentagon\u2019s decision to not reinforce the units.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you know, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is expanding its aggression in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are concerned that [the Department of Defense\u2019s] decision sends the wrong signal, not only to the CCP, but also to our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision to end the stationing of the two squadrons would terminate the presence of at least 48 fighters. The letter\u2019s signatories say that the Pentagon\u2019s plans to replace the squadron\u2019s F-22 fighters from Alaska on a rotational basis wouldn\u2019t be sufficient to make up for that loss.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they say, such an effort would result in \u201ca tangible reduction in American forward combat power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we agree with the need to modernize the Air Force\u2019s fleet in order to counter the rising threat of the People\u2019s Liberation Army, we are concerned with reporting that indicates that there will be no permanent presence to replace the Okinawa F-15s,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the signatories claimed that the removal of the two squadrons without an adequate permanent replacement would decrease the United States\u2019 ability to deter CCP leader Xi Jinping from fulfilling his vow to forcibly unite Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is abundantly clear that General Secretary Xi intends to take over Taiwan and establish the CCP as the hegemon in the Indo-Pacific, which would have catastrophic strategic, geopolitical, military, and economic consequences for U.S. interests,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-andrew-thornebrooke\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Freelancer.jpeg\" alt=\"Andrew Thornebrooke\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Andrew Thornebrooke is a reporter for The Epoch Times covering China-related issues with a focus on defense, military affairs, and national security. He holds a master&#8217;s in military history from Norwich University.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican lawmakers are seeking an explanation from U.S. military leadership about reports that the Pentagon is seeking to end the presence of dozens of fighter jets in Japan without creating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1695383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1726796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1726796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1695383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1726796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1726796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1726796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}