is a military aerodrome of the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , 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 (IJN) ...

(JMSDF). It is located northwest of

Hachinohe is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 221,459, and a population density of 725 persons per km2 in 96,092 households, making it Aomori Prefecture's second largest city by population. The city h ...

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

, in northern

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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 warfare, anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed Corporation, Lockh ...

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

, 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, not ...

s in

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island 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 the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, and in wintertime, conduct patrols of

drift ice Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...

in the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

. JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base is adjacent to

JGSDF Camp Hachinohe is a military base of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. It is one of several military facilities in eastern Aomori Prefecture, and is adjacent to the JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base. History Camp Hachinohe was ...

, and is also in close geographic proximity to

Misawa Air Base is an air base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), the United States Air Force, and the United States Navy located in Misawa, Aomori, in the northern part of the island of Honshū of Japan. It is located northeast of Misawa railwa ...

housing

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 warfa ...

(JASDF) and

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

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 Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...

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; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Im ...

in 1941. On the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the air field was occupied by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. 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 , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

in 1950, the base was turned over to the Japanese

Coastal Safety Force , also simply known as the Coastal Security Force, was an organization under the jurisdiction of the National Safety Agency, and existed from 1 August 1952 to 30 June 1954 in Japan. It was a maritime security agency established for the purpose o ...

, 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 and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and P ...

, later transitioning to

Kawasaki P-2J The Kawasaki P-2J (originally P2V-Kai) is a maritime patrol aircraft, maritime patrol and Anti-submarine warfare, ASW aircraft developed for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. A turboprop-powered version of the radial-engined P-2 Neptune, th ...

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 Ogawar ...

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

UH-60J The Mitsubishi H-60 series is twin-turboshaft engine helicopter based on the Sikorsky S-70 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-Defense ...

helicopter operations were transferred to JMSDF Ōminato Air Station.

References

External links

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

Hachinohe