On January 13, the Vermont Air National Guard of the U.S. Air Force deployed a squadron of F-35A fighter jets to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, positioning them in one of the most strategically sensitive locations for any Western fighter unit globally.A press release issued by the U.S. Air Force’s 18th Wing, which is the host aviation unit for KADENA AIR BASE, said that a number of F-35A arrived.While the exact numbers are not disclosed, some reports suggest that 10 fighters landed. They are assigned to the Vermont Air National Guard’s 134th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.The deployment will last several months and is scheduled to conduct exercises in Japan and other regional islands, including a multilateral joint war game code-named Cope North.F-35s will also be vital to allowing the Air Force to phase out its obsolete F-15C/D fighters after over four decades of permanent presence at the facility. In this video, Defense Updates analyzes why deployment of F-35As in OKINAWA is a crucial move by the US Air Force ?#defenseupdates #f35a #usvschina