The US has agreed to return 40 percent of the airspace controlled by Yokota AB, Japan, to Japan. A US Forces Japan spokesman told Stars and Stripes that the deal would not impact either US or Japanese military operations. The US agreed to “redesign” Yokota airspace to aid commercial air traffic around Tokyo and the planned expansion of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in 2009. The agreement, reached Friday after months of negotiation and speculation, would have the turnover take place by September 2008. Yokota is home to USAF’s only tactical airlift unit in the Pacific region.
The U.S. military is sending more fighter jets to the Middle East to step up its war with Iran, adding to what is already the largest buildup of airpower in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For now, the operation shows little sign of coming to a quick…