Japan plans to operate the Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft starting in Japan’s Fiscal 2015 to bolster its ability to monitor activities around its territory, reported Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. The US ally intends to spend some $2 million (200 million yen) in its Fiscal 2014 on Global Hawk research to support the high-flying surveillance aircraft’s introduction into Japanese service the following year, according to the newspaper’s Aug. 23 report. China Central Television reported that the Japanese are considering purchasing three Global Hawks over the next four years, citing Japan’s Fiscal 2014 military budget report. The Japanese have not yet determined a Global Hawk beddown location, but are interested in Misawa Air Base in northern Japan, according to Yomiuri Shimbun. The US Air Force operates F-16s at Misawa.
Weeks after senior Air Force leaders revealed the service would shed a number of the re-optimization initiatives pursued by their predecessors, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman confirmed the Space Force is retaining all of the space-specific elements of the strategy.
