The first F-15EX Eagle II designated for Kadena Air Base left Boeing’s St. Louis plant on August 28, 2026, with an intermediate destination: Portland, Oregon. The aircraft’s movement brought the Okinawa base closer to receiving its permanent replacement fighters.
The 18th Wing announced the departure on September 3. Portland Air National Guard Base was a preparation stop before Japan; the announcement was not a report of the aircraft’s arrival at Kadena.
Crews on Okinawa had already begun learning the new jet. On June 29, an F-15EX and two F-15E Strike Eagles from Eglin Air Force Base’s 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron arrived for a temporary deployment. That visit let pilots, maintainers and mission support personnel work together on the routines needed to sustain the aircraft overseas.
The work extended beyond flying. The wing described checks of maintenance procedures, logistics requirements and the ability to generate combat missions. Kadena’s 67th Fighter Squadron, designated as its first operational F-15EX unit, participated before receiving its permanent aircraft.
Those preparations give the factory departure its context. Replacing Kadena’s F-15C/D fleet requires both new production jets and crews able to keep them in service. By late summer, aircraft were moving toward the base while the people who would operate them were gaining experience with visiting test equipment.
Sources
- First Kadena-bound F-15EX departs Boeing facility for next milestone at Portland — 18th Wing · 2026-09-03.
- F-15EX returns to Kadena, advances transition to next-generation airpower — 18th Wing · 2026-07-01.