The U.S. Air Force intends to further whittle down the number of fighter aircraft based overseas as part of overall planned cuts to its fleet and wants to retire 51 F-15C Eagles, including 21 overseas, starting in fiscal 2015.
The reductions would be made over the next five years, leaving the Air Force with a total of 179 F-15Cs.
In Europe, 21 F-15Cs are assigned to RAF Lakenheath, England. Ten of those jets are currently in Lithuania to support the Baltic air policing mission. There are 54 F-15Cs based at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.
The other two fighter squadrons at Lakenheath comprise the newer F-15E Strike Eagles.
If the proposed F-15C cuts do indeed come from Europe, it would mark the third significant reduction of USAFE’s fighter fleet since 2010. Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany lost 21 F-16s starting in 2010 as part of an Air Force cost-savings plan. The base last year also said goodbye to 21 A-10s — the last remaining “Warthogs” in Europe — as part of Air Force cutbacks to meet tougher budget limits and a new defense strategy shifting focus away from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region.
The service’s fiscal 2015 force structure adjustments call for the reduction of 24 A-10s overseas. Those are based at Osan Air Base in South Korea.
The plan also calls for cutting two C-20H aircraft from the Air Force’s overseas fleet in fiscal 2015. Those planes, a military modification of the commercial Gulfstream aircraft, are used to transport distinguished military and government officials.
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