‘Relocation of flight training’ destroys residents’ peaceful lives - Akahata editorial (excerpts)
Five U.S. fighter jets, F15s, based at the U.S. Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, have been relocated to mainland Japan to take part in joint flight training exercises with the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force at the JASDF Hyakuri base in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Two past similar training exercises with F16 fighter jets at the Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture caused an extreme amount of noise. It was natural that nearby residents demanded that such training exercises be cancelled for the sake of residents’ sanity.
“Relocated flight training” exercises between the U.S. Air Force and the JASDF are held at six military bases in Japan. U.S. military aircraft involved are station at U.S. air force bases of Kadena (Okinawa), Iwakuni (Yamaguchi), and Misawa (Aomori).
The relocation of U.S. air force flight training began in 2007 as an implementation of an accord between Japan and the United States, the so-called “realignment of U.S Forces” in Japan.
Residents near the six air force bases, who have been disturbed by sonic booms from ASDF aircraft, are now forced to endure more sonic booms caused by U.S. Air Force aircraft. They are demanding the cancelation of the flight training exercises.
The “relocated training” has been held at Air SDF bases in Chitose (Hokkaido), Misawa, Hyakuri (Ibaraki), Komatsu (Ishikawa), Tsuiki (Fukuoka), and Nyutabaru (Miyazaki) in addition to Hyakuri.
Although the “relocated flight training” is held ostensibly to reduce the burden of noise pollution caused by U.S. aircraft at the U.S. Kadena Air Base, the noise level near the Kadena base has increased since 2007 rather than decreased.
For example, the U.S. forces moved out of the Kadena base for flight training at the Nyutabaru base for a total of 10 days between 2007 and 2009. But noise was registered more frequently at higher levels than usual at the Kadena base during those seven days according to a government respose to Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Akamine Seiken’s inquiry.
The number of noise citations increased at Kadena because other U.S. aircraft, including F22 Stealth fighter jets, flew in from the continental U.S. as well as from Iwakuni for flight training while fighter jets based at Kadena took part in training exercises on mainland Japan.
The same was true of the Iwakuni base. All this shows that the “relocation of flight training” gives the U.S. Air Force in Japan more air space to carry out operational flight training exercises over longer distances.
The so-called Roadmap states that bilateral training will commence with participation of 1-5 aircraft for the duration of 1-7 days, and develop over time to participation of 6-12 aircraft for 8-14 days at a time.
However, there is no reason for Japanese people to have to pay the cost of noise and air pollution as well as emotional stress associated with such flight training exercises aimed at increasing U.S. forces’ operational capabilities. The only way to solve this problem is to discontinue the “relocated training” exercises.
- Akahata, October 7, 2009