 U.S. forces push joint use of Kadena Base with Air SDF Akahata of October 4 reported that the U.S. government has reportedly proposed sharing the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa with Japan's Air Self-Defense Force. The U.S. side is also asking Japan to have ASDF units replace F-4 fighters with F-15 fighters and deploy them to Kadena. The town assembly of Kadena hosting the huge U.S. air base on September 24 adopted a unanimous resolution expressing firm opposition to the joint use plan. Under their global transformation plan, the U.S. Forces have already put forward a similar joint use plan for the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo. Under this plan, the Yokota-based U.S. 5th Air Force Command and the Guam-based 13th Air Force Command will be integrated into one command at Yokota, and the ASDF Air Defense Command, which commands ASDF fighters, will be redeployed to Yokota. The September 29 issue of the U.S. Forces newspaper "Stars and Stripes" reported that the U.S. Pacific Air Forces Commander Paul V. Hester referred to the continued co-use of U.S. Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture as a model of integrated use of military bases in Japan. Thus, the U.S. is integrating military bases in Japan with the SDF at Yokota and Kadena, following the model of Misawa. The U.S. proposal also includes co-use of the civil airport in Shimochi-shima Island in southern Okinawa as an auxiliary airfield for both forces. The working group of the Defense Agency, which is drafting a new Defense Program outline, will reportedly call for ASDF fighters to be deployed to Shimochi-shima Island. Townspeople of Irabu, which hosts the Shimochi-shima airport, held a rally on September 24 and adopted a resolution opposing the planned deployment of any military forces to the island. (end) |