Tag: Yokota Airbase

This may be an example to other military bases that the juice is not worth the squeeze to start up an e-scooter program on other U.S. military bases:

The flock of electric scooters that helmeted riders used to zipped around this sprawling airlift hub in western Tokyo is taking wing, for good.

The Bird Scooter Program at Yokota, the headquarters for U.S. Forces Japan, 5th Air Force and the 374th Airlift Wing, ends Sept. 30 and will not be renewed, Joshua Toellner, CEO at YokoWERX, the innovation hub on base, told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

The contractor, Bird Rides Japan, elected not to renew the contract and will remove the 30 electric scooters at 26 parking stations around the base between Wednesday and Monday, Toellner said. 

Bird Rides Japan, based in Shibuya, did not respond Tuesday to messages from Stars and Stripes seeking comment. 

The Air Force paid more per ride than it earned from scooter user fees, Toellner said. Bird’s earnings were also disappointing, he said.

“Bird runs throughout Tokyo and other locations,” he said. “They are seeing they are not making the money that it takes for them to come out and do maintenance, recharge and relocate the scooters.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This was likely quite a site for the personnel at Yokota Airbase outside of Tokyo to see:

The world’s largest production transport airplane, painted in Ukrainian blue and yellow, touched down at the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo early Wednesday.

The chartered AN-124 Antonov, also called a Ruslan, carried oversized equipment for a new heat and power plant at Yokota from Dallas, according to an email April 7 from 374th Airlift Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Danny Rangel. The statement was embargoed until the plane touched down.

The Antonov dwarfed Air Force C-130J Super Hercules cargo planes and CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft as it taxied onto a ramp beside Yokota’s cargo terminal. It was the same spot where airmen on March 16 loaded a 38-ton shipment of Ukraine-bound nonlethal military supplies onto a C-17 Globemaster III.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The case of the missing Yokota Airbase substitute teacher just took a dark twist:

The body of a U.S. civilian reported missing more than two weeks ago was discovered Tuesday in the housing tower where he and his wife lived at Yokota, according to the Air Force.

Trevor Balint, 34, of Hubbard, Ohio, the spouse of a Defense Department computer programmer and analyst, disappeared suddenly Feb. 1, prompting a search of the base from the ground and the air. His face appears on fliers, fading now, posted everywhere at Yokota, the headquarters in western Tokyo of U.S. Forces Japan.

His body was found in the east side housing area around 11 a.m. Tuesday, according to a statement on the base website Wednesday. Balint, a former substitute teacher at Defense Department schools, was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel, according to the base.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the authorities claim they searched the building and for some reason did not spot his body. The family is obviously pretty upset about this. Condolences to his family and friends.

This exercise was unrelated to the recent North Korean missile launch over Japan, but I think it is pretty significant that the Japanese are willing to demonstrate that they can deploy their own Patriot batteries defend a US airbase:

Japan’s air force demonstrated a Patriot missile-defense system at Yokota in western Tokyo Tuesday, just hours after a North Korean missile flew over Hokkaido.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force is deploying Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air systems to several U.S. bases in Japan to test their ability to quickly respond to Pyongyang’s missile threats, a U.S. Forces Japan statement said.

A convoy of trucks carrying PAC-3 components arrived at Yokota, headquarters of USFJ and the 5th Air Force, Tuesday morning. The planned deployment happened soon after North Korea test-fired a missile over Japanese territory, prompting alerts in a dozen prefectures before falling into the ocean east of Hokkaido. It was the latest in a string of missile tests this year, including one that appeared to simulate a nuclear attack on U.S. forces in Japan.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if the jets have “Dokdo is Our Land” painted on the side of them 😉  :

Six South Korean F-16 jet fighters have made an emergency landing at a U.S. military base in Tokyo after a refueling aircraft malfunctioned, U.S. Forces Japan officials said Thursday.

U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Kenneth Hoffman said the aircraft are headed to Alaska to participate in the annual Red Flag exercise.

The emergency landing was forced by “a mechanical issue with an air-to-air refueler that was scheduled to support their movement,” Hoffman said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.