Tire failure affects frontline fighter jets at Okinawa Air Force Base

A crew chief conducts pre-flight checks on an F-22A Raptor at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Oct. 10, 2024. (Luis Rios Calderon/USAF)

Tire problems struck two Air Force stealth fighters on the same day last week at Kadena Air Force Base, where one Raptor lost two tires while landing and the other lost one before takeoff.

Both situations were “safely resolved without any injuries or significant damage,” 18th Wing spokeswoman Maj. Allie Stormer told Stars and Stripes in an email Monday.

One of the $350 million upgraded planes suffered “two tire failures” upon landing at 1:45 p.m. at the Okinawa base, Stormer wrote.

According to her, the pilot made a “precautionary landing.”

Stormer confirmed that another F-22 “suffered tire failure prior to takeoff.” She did not specify the time or nature of the malfunction.

However, four photos posted on social media platform X at 12:55 pm Friday by Tailspotter user @ma6400 allegedly show a tire exploding as the Raptor took off and the plane subsequently taxiing off the runway.

Markings on the tail indicate that the aircraft belongs to an Alaska-based squadron. Six Raptors from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson arrived in Kadena the first weekend in October, Stormer said at the time.

She declined Monday to say which units the planes belonged to or what missions they were assigned to when the tires failed, citing safety concerns.

“Precautionary landings are standard procedure when pilots notice something unusual about their aircraft,” she wrote. “We are committed to operating safely while respecting our defense obligations.”

Squadrons of advanced fighter jets have been moving through Kadena on temporary duty since December 2022, when the Air Force announced a plan to replace aging F-15C/D Eagles at a base it considers the “keystone of the Pacific.”

Okinawa is located northeast of Taiwan, on the eastern edge of the East China Sea.

Six fighters from the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in Alaska joined Raptors from the Virginia-based 27th Fighter Squadron, which arrived in April.

The tire failures are the latest incidents, the third and fourth in a month, involving F-22s deployed to Kadena on a rotational basis.

One Raptor made a warning landing at the base earlier this month, following another Raptor last month sent out of Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. There were no injuries or runway damage reported in either incident, the wing said at the time.