Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Ken Wilsbach and Capt. James Armstrong, a pilot with the 67th Fighter Squadron, take off in an F-15D Eagle from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, April 17, 2023.

Kadena is the closest U.S. air base to Taiwan, located about 370 miles away and within range of Chinese medium-range ballistic missiles.

Japanese officials say an explosion at a storage site for unexploded ordnance at a U.S. military base on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa injured four Japanese soldiers.

The 18th Security Forces Squadron and Air Force Office of Special Investigations found these cases “go beyond Kadena Air Base,” 18th Wing spokeswoman Maj. Alli Stormer said by email Friday.

A U.S. Air Force pilot assigned to the 44th Fighter Squadron taxis down the flightline in an F-15C Eagle for the final time at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Dec. 1, 2022. (Senior Airman Jessi Roth/Air ...

A United States Air Force F-35A fighter jet lands at Kadena Air Base in Japan on April 3, 2025. Senior Airman Melany Bermudez/U.S. Air Force "This combined force is aimed at deterring potential ...

U.S. F-15C fighters parked in overhead shelters at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The Air Force maintains a handful of giant airbases worldwide, serving a sprawling empire of air power.

In November, Kadena Air Base staged a 33-aircraft elephant walk, showing off the expanding types of aircraft being rotated through the important base. That display included then recently arrived F ...