The 204th Tactical Fighter Squadron () is a squadron of the

9th Air Wing The 9th Air Wing () is a wing of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. It comes under the authority of the Southwestern Air Defense Force. It is based at Naha Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture.Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also informally referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air and space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and electronic warf ...

. It is based at

Naha Air Base , formally known as the , is an air base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force formerly under control of the United States Air Force. It is located at Naha Airport on the Oroku Peninsula in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. History Imperial Period Naha Air ...

, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is equipped with Mitsubishi F-15J/DJ and

Kawasaki T-4 The Kawasaki T-4 is a Japanese subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft developed and manufactured by the commercial conglomerate Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Its sole operator is the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), in part due to historic ...

aircraft.Thompson, Pau
JASDF - Squadron Histories
''J-HangarSpace'' Retrieved September 20, 2017

History

The squadron was founded as part of the

5th Air Wing Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash that ...

on December 1, 1964 at Nyutabaru Air Base as a Lockheed F-104J/DJ squadron. It began as a conversion squadron under Lieutenant Colonel Tadashi Matsuzaki, former commander of the 201st Tactical Fighter Squadron based at

Chitose Air Base , is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base located in Chitose, Hokkaidō, adjacent to New Chitose Airport. It is the JASDF's primary base in northern Japan and tasked with monitoring Japan's maritime borders with Russia. It was also Hokkaidō ...

in Hokkaido. It took on

Quick Reaction Alert Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) is state of readiness and '' modus operandi'' of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO air forces. The United States usually refers to Quick Reaction Alert as 'Airspace Control Alert'. Some non-NATO c ...

duties from October 1968. It was temporarily based at Komatsu Air Base in 1980 and 1981 before returning to Nyutabaru. In 1985 it upgraded to the F-15J/DJ and became part of the

7th Air Wing The 7th Air Wing () is a Wing (military aviation unit), wing of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. It comes under the authority of the Central Air Defense Force (Japan), Central Air Defense Force. It is based at Ibaraki Airport, Hyakuri Air Base in ...

Hyakuri Air Base is an airport in the city of Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It also serves as an air base for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) under the name Hyakuri Air Base, and is the closest fighter base to Tokyo. The airport was known as p ...

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

. It was partly responsible for the air defense of Tokyo. This move prompted the 301st Tactical Fighter Squadron to move to Nyutabaru as a replacement. In 2009 the squadron moved from Hyakuri to Naha Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, swapping with the F-4EJ equipped 302nd Tactical Fighter Squadron which moved to Hyakuri. The 204th became the southernmost of the JASDF's F-15 Eagle squadrons. The squadron's aircraft participated in the

Cope North Cope North is an annual multinational military exercise taking place in and around Guam. The first exercise took place in 1978. In 2016 in addition to US, Japanese and Australian forces South Korea, the Philippines and New Zealand New Zea ...

exercise at Andersen Air Force Base in

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

in 2012. In September 2017 it conducted training with US

Rockwell B-1B Lancer The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It is commonly called the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of three strategic bombers serving in the U.S. Air Force fleet along with ...

bombers.Japan US Bilateral Training September 9, 2017
Retrieved September 25, 2017

Tail marking

During the F-104 era the squadron's tail marking was a blue and yellow "V", signifying the

. Since 1984 (when the F-15 Eagle was adopted) the squadron's aircraft carry a bald eagle as their tail marking.

Aircraft operated

Fighter aircraft

* Lockheed F-104J/DJ (1964-1984) * Mitsubishi F-15J/DJ (1984-present)

Liaison aircraft

Lockheed T-33A The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

(1964-1993) *

(1992-present)

References

{{Japan Air Self-Defense Force Units of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force