Text Fwd: Japan To Open Interceptor Missile Command On U.S. Base In Spring

* Text informed by Rick Rozoff on Feb. 2, 2011

Stars and Stripes
February 2, 2011
Japanese Air Defense Command center set to open on Yokota this spring
By Charlie Reed


YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan: As construction of Japan’s new Air Defense Command headquarters nears completion, officials here are still working out exactly how U.S. and Japanese troops will share the base.

The ADC will begin operations on Yokota by the end of March, and all 800 Japanese troops associated with the command will be on base by the end of the year, Yokota officials said.

Along with a 1.3 million square-foot operations center, the Japanese are also building a dormitory for about 200 single enlisted troops who will live on base, a dining facility, a Japanese military exchange store, an auditorium and other support facilities for the ADC, which is transferring from Japan’s nearby Fuchu air base in metropolitan Tokyo.

The ADC commander and vice commander along with four other general officers and their families will also reside at Yokota, home to U.S. Forces Japan headquarters and 5th Air Force. U.S. and Japanese officials could not provide figures for how many dependents will accompany the 800 Japanese troops and civilian employees assigned to the ADC.
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A headquarters command, the ADC controls air operations and missile defense for all of Japan and coordinates air support for Japan’s naval and ground forces.

The project, which broke ground three years ago, has been touted most for enhancing U.S.-Japan cooperation on missile defense.
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The U.S. and Japan began partnering on missile defense in the wake of North Korea’s 1998 missile test over Japan. In December, Japan announced plans to further expand its anti-missile system as part of a new “dynamic” defense policy.

The relocation is “necessary to share useful information between the U.S. and Japan,” a spokesman for Japan’s Ministry of Defense said this week.