is a military aerodrome of the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force The , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

(JMSDF). It is located northwest of

Hachinohe is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 213,453 in 110,121 households, and a population density of . As of October 2020, Hachinohe is Aomori Prefecture's second largest city by population. The c ...

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

, in northern

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Operations

JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base is currently the headquarters of Fleet Air Wing 2's Air Patrol Squadron 2. which is equipped with Kawasaki-Lockheed

P-3C Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. It is based on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner by Lockheed; it is ea ...

maritime patrol aircraft A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over ...

, and which is responsible for patrols of the seaward approaches to northern Japan. Aircraft are regularly dispatched to

forward airfield Advance airfield and forward airfield are military terms for a relatively primitive ad-hoc airfield used for refueling and re-arming air units as part of forward operations near the enemy. Also called advanced airfield for its advanced position, n ...

s in

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

, and in wintertime, conduct patrols of

drift ice Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift (navigation), difference between heading and course of a vessel * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** D ...

in the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

. JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base is adjacent to JGSDF Camp Hachinohe, and is also in close geographic proximity to

Misawa Air Base is an air base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), List of United States Air Force installations, the United States Air Force, and the United States Navy located in Misawa, Aomori, Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, Aomori, in the northern p ...

housing

Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the Aerial warfare, air and space warfare, space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and ...

(JASDF) and

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

units. JMSDF Hachinohe is also the home base for the JMSDF Mobile Construction Group, the Japanese Self-Defense Force's equivalent to the American

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

History

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force butai01 - 05

JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base was initially founded as a training field for the

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ) was the Military aviation, aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground ...

in 1941. On the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...

at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the air field was occupied by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. Between 1945 and 1950, it continued in operation by the United States Army under the name Camp Haugen.''Col. Orin D. "Hard Rock" Haugen''
/ref> With the start of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

in 1950, the base was turned over to the Japanese Coastal Safety Force, the immediate predecessor to the JMSDF. With the final withdrawal of American forces from Hachinohe in 1956, the base was officially designated JGSDF Camp Hachinohe. The

(JMSDF) established a presence from 1957, and the JMSDF Hachinohe Air Wing was renamed Fleet Air Wing Two in 1961. The wing was initially equipped with Lockheed

P-2 Neptune The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a Maritime patrol aircraft, maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed Corporation, Lockh ...

, later transitioning to Kawasaki P-2J Neptune aircraft. In 1963, American authorities banned civilian air traffic to

, citing safety and security reasons, and commercial air operations were transferred to Hachinohe. In 1963, Air Patrol Squadron 2 was established and reequipped with P-2J Neptune aircraft in 1971. The squadron transitioned to the P-3C Orion in 1985. With the re-opening of

Misawa Airport is an airport in Misawa, a city in the Aomori Prefecture of Japan. It shares facilities and airport codes with the Misawa Air Base. History An Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service base was established at Misawa in 1941, and nearby Lake Ogawa ...

in 1975, commercial operations were transferred back to Misawa. In an administrative reorganization in 2008,

UH-60J The Mitsubishi H-60 series is a twin-turboshaft engine helicopter based on the Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter family for use by the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). The SH-60J/K/L are anti-submarine patrol versions for the Japan Maritime Self-Defe ...

helicopter operations were transferred to JMSDF Ōminato Air Station.

References

External links

official home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base Japanese airbases

Hachinohe