The US Air Force recently announced that it plans to withdraw its force of F-15C/D fighter aircraft from their home at Kadena Airbase in Okinawa. While the immediate strategic implications may be debatable, the announcement highlights both the need and the opportunity for the Air Force to revamp its force posture in the Western Pacific and elsewhere. Analysis suggests a relatively new technology could play a major role in any future posture: autonomous, runway-independent air vehicles.
Given that the National Defense Strategy has placed top priority on deterring aggression by China, subtracting combat aircraft based in a front-line allied nation seems counter-intuitive, and it reflects some of the dilemmas facing the Air Force as it tries to manage an aging and shrinking fleet of fighters.
