Senior US and Japanese military leaders gathered at Yokota AB, Japan, to celebrate the beginning of Air Defense Command operations at the base, located west of Tokyo. The Japan Air Self Defense Force relocated its ADC headquarters to Yokota from Fuchu Air Base to place it side-by-side with USAF’s air and space operations center and air component headquarters there. It’s one of the realignments intended to enhance the US-Japan Security Alliance. “These headquarters buildings, standing side by side, are a tangible result of our efforts to strengthen defense cooperation between our two countries,” said Lt. Gen. Burton Field, US Forces Japan commander, during Monday’s opening ceremony. He added, “They are a visible symbol that reflects the nature of our alliance as we work together to provide for the common defense of Japan.” (Yokota report by 2nd Lt. Christopher W. Love)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…