Free Republic

For Immediate Release – January 3, 2013 Washington, DC – Phoenix International Holdings, Inc. (Phoenix) announces the successful underwater search and recovery of a U.S. Air Force F-16 aircraft from over 16,400 feet of sea water (fsw). In early August 2012, at the direction of the Naval Sea Systems Command’s Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), Phoenix mobilized the Navy’s ORION deepwater side scan sonar system, the CURV 21 remotely operated vehicle (ROV), and the Navy’s motion compensated, 30,000 pound Fly-Away Deep Ocean Salvage System (FADOSS). All equipment was transported over land from Phoenix’s facility in...

The U.S. Air Force is ready to respond immediately if hostilities between the two Koreas escalate, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Wednesday. Schwarz told reporters after North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island, "The bottom line is that U.S. Forces Korea cetainly is monitoring the situation carefully." He mentioned Osan and Gunsan in South Korea, Kaneda in Okinawa, Japan, and other U.S. Air Force bases in the Pacific to emphasize that the U.S. has plenty of firepower in the region. Schwarz added USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp "has operational control of Air Force assets that reside on...

TOKYO — On Okinawa, long-suffering residents are fed up with U.S. Marine Corps helicopters relentlessly beating above their rooftops. In Tokyo, an assertive new Japanese government is reopening basing questions that the U.S. military thought were settled. Even on Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific where support for American military bases was taken for granted, local officials are suddenly asking the Pentagon to slow a huge expansion plan. Sixty-five years after the U.S. victory in World War II cemented America’s military presence across the Far East, rumblings of discontent are growing. Nationalism, not-in-my-backyard syndrome, the rising influence of China...

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — U.S. military commanders on Okinawa ordered a limited evacuation of coastal areas for all DOD personnel shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, and Japanese officials ordered the evacuation of more than 4,000 people living along the coastline near Misawa Air Base in mainland Japan. Base officials at Misawa broadcast warnings to American community members early Sunday afternoon, advising that anyone living east of Route 338 were ordered to evacuate. “Leave that area immediately,” read a crawler on the American Forces Network television channel. On Okinawa a wave up to six feet in height was expected to...

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama reiterated Thursday his government will "comprehensively review" the Japan-U.S. alliance but added it will continue to deepen the bilateral ties in a "multilayered" way. "As I have repeatedly said, the Japan-U.S. alliance is the cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy," Hatoyama said during a House of Councillors plenary session. But he said his government, which took power in mid-September, will comprehensively review the entire status of the alliance on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the revision of the bilateral security treaty next year. "Through the review and in a mid- to long-term perspective, we will...

The top commander of U.S. forces in Japan told Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Thursday it would be difficult to realize his suggested plan of transferring the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture to the nearby U.S. Kadena Air Base, a Japanese government source said. SNIP Lt. Gen. Rice cited difficulties with the plan from Okada and Tokyo.

TOKYO — U.S. and Japanese officials have discussed the possibility of withdrawing U.S. fighter jets from Japan, U.S. military officials confirmed Monday. But officials from both countries declined to provide further details, saying the conversation was part of ongoing discussions between the two nations about a variety of issues. "At this point, there’s not much to say on it," said U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Maj. Joseph Macri. "It’s a discussion." Macri and David Marks, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, referred questions to the Pentagon. "We, the U.S. government, we talk to them on a wide variety of...

The Obama administration has proposed the possible pull out of all 40 F-16s from Misawa AB to the government of Japan. The discussion are supposed to have taken place back in April and have only now been released. The move could possibly start at the end of the year with the agreement of the new incoming administration of Democratic Party of Japanese leader Yukio Hatoyama. As part of the same strategic review plan the US has also told Japan that they may also remove 50 or so F-15s from its base in Kadena, Okinawa. Both proposals are pending as the...

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — U.S. troops from Misawa say they were simply acting on instinct when they rushed toward a fiery car crash on a dark country road Aug. 15 to save an unconscious Japanese man. "I was just doing what I would want someone to do for me if I was in that guy’s spot," said Senior Airman Thomas Sullivan, who works with the 35th Medical Support Squadron. Sullivan, Airman 1st Class Justin Bunton, a firefighter, and Tech Sgt. Rory Stark, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist, braved the heat of the fire to carry the man to safety,...

Servicemembers, families say goodbye as about 300 deploy MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Even pets came to say goodbye. Families gathered in a parking lot near the north side of base Sunday morning to see their loved ones off to war. There were kisses for spouses, bear hugs for kids, pats on the head for family dogs and a few tears for all, before airmen shuffled with their Army green duffle bags to a bus that marked the first leg of a journey. Final destination: Iraq. First, the bus dropped them at a hangar. Airmen were to later board a...

U.S. fighter pilots from Japan and South Korea are honing their combat skills at Operation Red Flag-Alaska, a two-week exercise that ends Friday. Hosted by Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska’s central interior, the exercise is part of the spin up for a second deployment downrange this fall for the 14th Fighter Squadron from Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. “Every one of the pilots flying with the 14th Fighter Squadron will be deploying to Operation Iraqi Freedom in September,” Col. Mark Altobelli, 35th Operations Group commander, was quoted in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. This year’s Red Flag also includes...

A U.S. F-16C block 50 from the 13th EFS deployed with the 332nd AEW crashed during takeoff at 16.55h from Balad Airbase on Sunday. Officials said the pilot was uninjured after ejecting. The cause of the accident is under investigation, the military said in a statement. The F-16 was taking off for a combat mission, to provide air support to troops on the ground fighting militants, when it crashed at Balad Air Base, 50 miles north of Baghdad. The aircraft crashed near the runway and the resulting fire was extinguished by Air Force firefighters from the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer...