Site Fwd: [Anatakara] Misawa military, city leaders partner for first-ever exercise 일본 미사와 군대, 시지도자들과 사상 처음 군사 훈련위해 협력

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* The below site is copied from Anatakara, a Japanese/ English site. Japanese language in the original site was omitted here for avoiding confusion. To see the Japanese, click the link.
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Anatakara

*Note: Although not being in practical operation yet due to technical difficulties, the Fast Breeder Reactor, called ' Monju', in Rokkasho（coordinates:40°58′02″N 141°22′28″E, Aomori, Japan, is very near to Misawa Air Base （coordinates:40°42′19″N 　141°22′19″E) which is in common use, as the only such site in Japan, by Japanese commercial airlines, Japan Air Self Defense, and the U.S.Air Force in Japan. This situation can be said to pose one of the greatest threats in Japan, considering the past crash record of the U.S.military aircrafts especially those in Okinawa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokkasho,_Aomori



http://cnic.jp/modules/rokkasho/index.php?content_id=7

http://seakayaking.wordpress.com/2007/01/　‘Sea kayaking in　Japan’

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Misawa Air Base
Misawa military, city leaders partner for first-ever exercise
Posted 10/14/2010 Updated 10/15/2010
by 1st Lt. Cammie Quinn
35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs



　http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E6%B2%A2%E9%A3%9B%E8%A1%8C%E5%A0%B4
Table-top exercise for emergency response, Oct.13, 2010

The exercise, created in response to a recent aircraft crash-landing near Okinawa, Japan, outlined joint emergency response efforts between Misawa's local and military emergency response teams.

Through the exercise, emergency responders established policies and procedures used when a U.S. Air Force aircraft crashes, or is forced to land in Japanese communities.

"It is important to respond quickly and efficiently in all emergency situations involving U.S. Air Force personnel and property, both on and off base," Col. David Wiegand, 35th Mission Support Group commander, said during the opening ceremonies for the exercise. "This exercise allows us to outline a response strategy in the event of an off-base accident. "It also built a strong sense of teamwork and partnership with the Misawa community," he added.

During the exercise base first responders worked with members from the Amori Prefecture and Misawa City Police Department, Misawa city office and defense office. On the base side of the exercise, members of the 35th Civil Engineer Squadron's emergency management and fire protection flights, 35th Security Forces Squadron, 35th Medical Group and 35th Fighter Wing presented their respective contributions to the scenario.

"The exercise didn't change our procedures; it simply provided us an opportunity to exercise our joint capabilities and strengthen confidence that we can work together proficiently in the event of a disaster," said Lt. Col. Dustin Sutton, 35th SFS, commander.

"Although we plan for these events by creating checklists and conducting exercises on base, it's important to ensure we conduct the same planning and exercising with our host nation government to ensure we can respond to a similar incident off-base."

The exercise scenario began as a USAF helicopter pilot made an emergency call the base air traffic control tower. Once contact was made, the pilot was forced to crash-land in Misawa City, initiating a four-phase reaction plan.

Phase one began with the simulated emergency call to the ATC. The second phase involved intra-organizational communication and arrival of initial responders to the accident site. Departments associated with life saving, fire fighting, site preserving, traffic controlling and evacuation practices deployed their forces during phase three, and a safety check occurred during the fourth phase.

Throughout each phase, representatives from the response teams demonstrated their location and movement by moving miniature automobiles on a large map of the Misawa community.

While working together, teams identified differences in practice, allowing them to better prepare to respond to an emergency, said Chief Master Sgt. McHudson Theodore, 35th CES fire chief.

"The exercise provides us with a better insight of the community chain-of-command," said Chief Theodore. "In the Air Force, fire response teams fall within a separate chain of command from emergency medical responders. It's important to be able to recognize the differences between each agency."

Amori Prefecture senior police superintendent, Toshihide Shimayama, declared the exercise successful, and thanked all key players in the day's events. "I have great gratitude to the teams here, especially base personnel," he said. "I can see all participants are the best. It's important to maintain mutual communication to ensure a continued success."

The table top exercise is in preparation of an upcoming physical exercise in downtown Misawa City.

SEE MORE

Text Fwd: Information on the X-band radar deployed in Japan

http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3214_information-on-the-x-band-radar-deployed-in-japan
Information on the X-band radar deployed in Japan
12.3.2009

In 2005, Japanese government agreed to offer the USA , for a limited time beginning in May 2006, the land of 63,000㎡ and a building of 130㎡ for its deployment of the world-first TPY-2 radar in the sub base of Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force in Shariki ( in the city of Tsugaru, Aomori ), a town in the northern part of the main land of Japan, with a population of 5,500, facing the Sea of Japan.

The reasons why Shariki was picked up for the deployment are supposedly these:

1. This area is the best for the surveillance at the earliest stage possible of a probable Taepodong-2 launch from the North Korea(DPRK) (* As has been turned out, it does not work that way for Japan.)

2. As this town is faced with the Sea of Japan, there is no jamming in between from the radar to the North Korea.

3. In Misawa, a nearby city in the same prefecture, there is a base of ASDF as well as an American base, thus ensuring the aerial security around the radar would be much easier.

4. There might be few, if any, opposition movements in this under-populated town with a small administrative budget.

This X-band radar (TPY-2 , or FBX-T :Forward-Based X-band radar Transportable) is small enough to be loaded on a truck and has a shorter range of the missile detection, probably a few thousand km, compared with a much bigger fixed type planned for deployment in the Czech Republic with a long range of 5,000 km.

However, its early detection capability is supreme merit for the USA. Concerned people in Shariki had asked about its possible impacts on the atmosphere and their life, and the Ministry of Defense answered that the presumable impacts of jamming and high-heat radiation would be little due to its little power output and its deployment direction. However, in a related paper by the Pentagon, it is written that TV sets and radios within the radius of 10 km could be affected, and that in case an airplane or a wild bird is directly exposed to its electromagnetic radiation, it may be affected.

Along with the deployment, a limited-flight zone was demanded by the US for an indefinite period of time around the radar site, that is, in the western half of a column-like aerial space with a radius of 6 km and a height of 19,000 feet, no flying is allowed.

Because of the military integration arising from the MD system in Japan including radar deployment and the relocation of the US force in the Pacific region, the US force in Japan and the SDF has been actually integrated, which has resulted in the intensive deployment of strike fighters both in the US base and in the SDF base, totaling 80 combined, in the city of Misawa, close to Shariki.

This X-band radar in Shariki could not detect any of the seven missile launches from the North Korea in July, 2006.

This was because its detecting area had been set much higher in space than the radars of Japan. Thus one may naturally question the official announcement, made by the SDF of the Ministry of Defense, regarding the purpose of the X-band at the time of its deployment, which said, “ the purpose of this X-band radar is to support our capability of intercepting a ballistic missile coming towards Japan, and our ability of protecting Japanese people or of dealing with damages.”

It can be said that this radar is for early detection of a missile towards Hawaii or Guam, or even the main land of the USA, not towards Japan.

There are some 100 people working on this radar in Shariki, among whom there are only two US soldiers.

The rest are about 40 staff members from Raytheon, and some 60 from Chenega Blackwater Solutions who are in charge of guarding the radar site. To all the technical and security staff members, the US-Japan status agreement which stipulates the privilege of the US Forces stationed in Japan is applicable. So, even if an employee of these private companies living in Shariki commits a crime or an accident, as long as he is on duty, he is treated as a civilian employee of the US Forces, exempt from the first trial on the part of Japan.

PAC3 deployment in Japan

X band radar Japan: download
(232 kB, PDF, 12.3.2009)


* Related blog*

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/02/text-fwd-for-czech-rep-people.html

Text fwd: US monitoring NKorea missile activity from Japan

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_US_NKOREA?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-03-03-06-23-02
Mar 3, 6:23 AM EST
US monitoring N Korea missile activity from Japan
By ERIC TALMADGE
Associated Press Writer

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (AP) -- The U.S. military is closely monitoring activities in North Korea from its bases in Japan ahead of the expected launch of a long-range missile that could be capable of striking U.S. territory, officials said Tuesday.

North Korea said last week that it would launch a communications satellite into orbit. But neighboring governments believe the satellite claim may be a cover for a missile launch and have warned the regime not to carry out any "provocative" actions.

Analysts say satellite images reveal brisk activity at a launch pad in North Korea's northeast.

U.S. military officials at Misawa Air Base, which is on Japan's northern fringe just across the Sea of Japan from North Korea, said they are closely watching the situation but refused to provide any details about the possible timing of the launch.

"U.S. Army forces in Japan are always vigilant and more than capable of defending Japan from any threat, including ballistic missiles, and as always we are working closely with our Japanese allies," Maj. James Crawford, a spokesman for the U.S. Army in Japan, said Tuesday.

Amid heightened tensions, Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said it is "natural" for Tokyo to "respond to any situations" when asked whether the government plans to shoot down a North Korean missile.

Kyodo News agency also said Japan plans to deploy an Aegis radar-equipped destroyer carrying a missile interceptor to the Sea of Japan before Pyongyang's expected missile launch.

Quoting unnamed defense sources, Kyodo said the deployment of the interceptor was a precautionary measure as Japan cooperates with the U.S. military on the looming missile threat. A Japanese Defense Ministry spokeswoman declined to confirm the report.

Japan, which is within easy range of the North's arsenal, has long been anxious about missile activity from North Korea, which in 1998 launched a long-range ballistic missile over its main island and well into the Pacific, almost reaching Alaska.

Since then, Japan and the United States have worked together on ballistic missile defense and have built a multibillion dollar ballistic missile shield that includes interceptor missiles both onboard ships at sea and Patriot missile units that ring Tokyo and are also positioned on the island of Okinawa - where more than half of the 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan are deployed.

North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a long-range missile in 2006 - the same year it conducted its first nuclear test - but is believed to have made improvements in its missile capabilities.

Officials say Misawa is a front-line station for monitoring North Korean activity. If U.S. military satellites detect a flash of heat from a missile range in North Korea, within seconds computers at the base can plot a rough trajectory.

Analysts say North Korea's latest threat is a bid to draw President Barack Obama's attention as his administration formulates its North Korea policy as international disarmament talks remain on hold. Obama's envoy on North Korea is heading to the region for talks with his counterparts to the nuclear talks.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Text Fwd: Air Force to hold air war exercise in S. Korea

Text Fwd: Pyeongtaek Peace Center

Air Force to hold air war exercise in S. Korea By Franklin Fisher,
Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Monday, January 12, 2009

* Image caption in the original article: Christopher Boitz / USAF

At Osan Air Base in South Korea last July, an F-16 fighter of Osan’s 36th Fighter Squadron lands after flying a mock combat mission during a training exercise. This week the U.S. Air Force throughout South Korea is holding an exercise to test its readiness to fight an air war.


OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — U.S. airmen across South Korea will take part this week in a training exercise that tests their readiness to fight an air war.

U.S. 7th Air Force (Air Forces Korea) will oversee the quarterly operational readiness exercise, which will involve more than 8,500 U.S. troops, most of them airmen, including those at Osan and Kunsan air bases.

Army Patriot missile soldiers also will take part.

The exercise will test — through various mock war drills — the ability of the U.S. Air Force in South Korea to do the things it would have to do in wartime — mainly to knock out enemy aircraft, attack enemy troops and other ground targets.

“Our primary goal obviously is to make sure we’re ‘Ready to fight tonight’ and win against possible North Korean attack,” said 1st Lt. Malinda C. Singleton, spokeswoman for Osan’s 51st Fighter Wing.

The exercise will test senior commanders in their ability to manage the overall air campaign.

Airmen will have to perform under simulated wartime conditions, often in cumbersome chemical protective gear.

“Learning how to operate and survive in a chemical environment, that is a major part to every exercise we do here,” said 1st Lt. David R. Herndon, spokesman for Kunsan’s 8th Fighter Wing.

Pilots will fly mock combat missions over the peninsula. Ground crews will launch and recover the jets. Other airmen, including Security Forces troops, will practice defending their bases.

Airmen will practice giving first aid to themselves or other wounded airmen. Base medical facilities will operate as if at war.

The soldiers of the Army’s 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade will simulate launching their missiles against incoming enemy missiles or planes.

The brigade is headquartered at Osan and maintains firing batteries at various installations on the peninsula.

This week’s exercise will also serve as a rehearsal for a crucial Pacific Air Forces operational readiness inspection, or ORI, that the U.S. Air Force in South Korea is slated to undergo in the spring.

ORIs test war readiness, and all U.S. Air Force bases worldwide undergo ORIs once every two years, Singleton said.


* related email forward * from Corazon Valdez Fabros , Agatha Haun on Feb. 10

13th Fighter Squadron S. Korea-bound
Misawa unit replacing
Army helo battalion

By Vince Little and Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, February 9, 2009


This time, the 13th Fighter Squadron is staying a little closer to
home.

Air Force officials said the unit from Misawa Air Base, Japan,
is gearing up for a six-month deployment to South Korea, where a dozen F-16
fighters and about 400 airmen will temporarily replace an Army attack and
reconnaissance helicopter battalion set to pull out in March.

The 35th Fighter Wing didn’t release a specific date but said
the Misawa deployment would begin later this month.

The Army’s 1st Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, nicknamed
"Half-Attack," will leave Camp Eagle in Wonju, South Korea, this spring for a
new home at Fort Carson, Colo. The troops will deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan
later this year.

The unit, which flies the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter,
has 24 aircraft and about 360 soldiers. It’s been stationed in South Korea since
November 1994 as part of the 2nd Infantry Division.

Last year, the U.S. military said the Apache battalion’s
close-air support mission would be picked up by 12 Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II
attack planes. It later decided to replace the Apaches with F-16s because of
structural concerns over the A-10 airframe.

The 4th Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment at Camp Humphreys in
Pyeongtaek will remain as the Army’s lone Apache unit in South
Korea.

"The deployment of the 13th is aimed at balancing assets to
support regional security in the Asia-Pacific theater and meet the needs of the
ongoing global war on terror," said Master Sgt. Allison Day, a 35th Fighter Wing
spokeswoman.

While in South Korea, the squadron and support personnel will
conduct standard training to keep flying proficiencies and tactical requirements
current, she added. That will include sharpening their air-to-air and
air-to-ground roles.

The rotational move "keeps the F-16s within the region and
close to Japan as opposed to out-of-theater deployments that have previously
been conducted," Day said. "(But) as a matter of operational security, it is our
policy not to discuss the details of specific operational or training
missions."

In May 2007, the 13th Fighter Squadron and support airmen
deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq.

More than 300 airmen with Misawa’s 14th Fighter Squadron are
wrapping up a five-month tour to Balad. No return date has been announced.

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13th Fighter Squadron to bring more jets to S. Korea
By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday,
February 11, 2009

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — The fighter squadron to deploy from Japan to
South Korea this month will include 14 jets and about 400 airmen during its
six-month tour, officials said Monday.

Last week, the Air Force said the squadron would deploy with
12 F-16 fighters, but on Monday said it had upped the number of jets to
14.

The planes and airmen of the 13th Fighter Squadron at Misawa
Air Base in Japan will spend six months in South Korea to take up the close air
support role currently held by an Army Apache helicopter unit — the 1st
Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment at Camp Eagle. The regiment will move to Fort
Carson, Colo., this spring.

"Our primary goal is to ensure there’s no gap in capability,
which this deployment does," said Col. Mike Chandler, chief of staff of 7th Air
Force (Air Forces Korea).

The F-16s to be deployed "more than provide the necessary
firepower for us to defend the Republic of Korea."

The fighter squadron will be assigned a new name, yet to be
announced, during its temporary deployment, 7th Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col.
Rene White said Monday.

The Air Force said that for security reasons it will not
immediately disclose where in South Korea it will base the
squadron.

Besides pilots, the squadron’s personnel complement will
include mechanics and other support personnel.

The move will require no facilities construction to
accommodate the squadron, Chandler said, but additional police may be needed to
pull security duties.

After the Apache helicopter battalion moves to its new
stateside home, its troops will deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, the U.S. military
has said.

The Army will still have one Apache battalion in South Korea,
the 4th Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, which is at Camp Humphreys in
Pyeongtaek.


Contact:
Ko You-Kyoung
National Campaign for Eradication of Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea
us@usacrime.or.kr

* The Songtan air base is wrongly known as Osan air base.