Air Force and Army personnel worked with their Japanese counterparts to coordinate ground operations and control airspace during Exercise Yama Sakura 63 at Yokota AB, Japan. The exercise, which ran from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13, marked the first time that personnel from both nations utilized the new Bilateral Air Operations Coordination Center of the Japan Air Self Defense Force’s Air Defense Command, according to Yokota’s Dec. 18 release. “The exercise was extremely successful,” said Col. Stephen Meyers, commander of the Army’s 5th Battlefield Coordination Detachment. He added, “We gave the [joint forces air component commander] a comprehensive picture of both air and ground operations.” The US airmen and soldiers exchanged ideas, tactics, and techniques with the Japanese personnel during the exercise. ADC moved its headquarters from Fuchu Air Base to Yokota, and began operations there in March, to improve bilateral contingency planning, training, and intelligence sharing with 5th Air Force. (Yokota report by Capt. Cody Chiles)
After years of serving as the bill-payer for other Pentagon priorities, munitions stockpiles are poised to get a major boost from the $150 billion reconciliation package unveiled by lawmakers in Congress this week, along with the defense industrial base to...