Global Hawk surveillance drones relocate to Japan as typhoon season ramps up in western Pacific

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – The Air Force is again sending one of its most high-tech intelligence-gathering platforms to Japan to sidestep extreme weather in the western Pacific.

A detachment of RQ-4 Global Hawks from the 69th Reconnaissance Group, 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, will operate out of Yokota this summer and fall, the 374th Airlift Wing said in a statement Friday. The western Tokyo base is also home to U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force.

The statement did not say how many of the large, unmanned surveillance drones are relocating to Yokota or when they would begin arriving; however, five Guam-based Global Hawks and 105 personnel worked from the base in 2017.

The detachment is responsible for launching and landing the Global Hawks before handing control to airmen at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., and Beale Air Force Base, Calif. Their mission involves partnering with Japan and helping with humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and counter-piracy and counter-terrorism.

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