SpaceWar.com reports: “The Pentagon announced Wednesday it will deploy dozens of advanced fighter jets to multiple bases in Japan as part of a modernization plan amid growing tensions with China, North Korea and Russia.

The Defense Department said in a statement that 36 F-15EX Eagles will be deployed to the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan, replacing 48 F-15C/D Eagles ‘as part of a planned divestment and modernization.’

Forty-eight F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation fighters will also be deployed to the Misawa Air Base in Japan’s northeastern prefecture of Aomori. They will be replacing 36 F-16 Fighting Falcons.

Without specifying, the Pentagon added it would be altering the number of F-35B aircraft at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in support of ‘the Service’s force design modernization implementation.’…”