Departure
87%
vs 95% ▼ 8
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Kadena Air Base, on the island of Okinawa in Japan, is one of the largest and most active United States Air Force installations in East Asia, home to the 18th Wing and a range of associated flying units. Its twin 12,000-foot runways and full instrument approach facilities make it a significant fixture in Pacific airspace, of interest to any simulator pilot flying the region.
Kadena Air Base sits on the island of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, spanning the towns of Kadena and Chatan and part of the city of Okinawa. It is operated by the United States Air Force and is the host base for the 18th Wing, alongside the 353rd Special Operations Wing, reconnaissance units and a US Army air defence battalion. Known as the "Keystone of the Pacific", it is the largest and busiest USAF base in East Asia, with over 20,000 American servicemembers, family members and Japanese employees living or working there, making it a distinctive and imposing airfield for anyone flying in the vicinity.
The base lies on Okinawa Island in the Ryukyu chain, within Japanese airspace under US military air traffic control. Approach and departure services are provided by Okinawa Approach/Departure. Given its scale and military status, the surrounding airspace is tightly controlled and shared with civil traffic operating to and from other Okinawa airfields.
Kadena has two parallel physical runways aligned 05/23. The northern pair, 05L/23R, is 12,064 to 12,063 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit, and is equipped with ILS on both approach directions. The southern pair, 05R/23L, is 12,076 feet long in both directions, hard-surfaced and lit, but without ILS. Field elevation is 98 feet.
Kadena Tower operates on 126.2 MHz, with ground control on 118.5 MHz and clearance delivery also on that frequency. Okinawa Approach/Departure is reached on 33.58 MHz. ATIS broadcasts on 124.2 MHz, and a command post frequency (18 WG Command Post) is available on 31.1 MHz. Other published frequencies include 123.3 MHz (CLD), 128 MHz (Air Mobility Control), 26.6 MHz (Base Ops/Center Ops), 34.46 MHz (Metro/PMSV) and 131.4 MHz (PTD). Both runway directions on the 05L/23R pair are served by ILS.
The airfield's origins predate the Battle of Okinawa: in early 1945 a Japanese construction firm completed a small strip named Yara Hikojo near the village of Kadena, used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. It was one of the first objectives of the US Tenth Army's 7th Infantry Division during the invasion, and was captured as a battered 4,600-foot coral runway. Engineers from the 1901st Aviation Engineer Battalion and Naval Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit CBMU 624 had it accepting emergency landings by nightfall on the day of capture, and fully operational within eight days after further coral surfacing. The 807th Engineering Aviation Battalion subsequently built a 6,500-foot bituminous runway and a 7,500-foot bomber runway by August 1945. Kadena initially came under Seventh Air Force control, and in July 1945 Headquarters Eighth Air Force relocated there from RAF High Wycombe in England to train B-29 Superfortress crews for planned raids on Japan, a mission overtaken by the Japanese surrender. The formal surrender of Japanese forces in the Ryukyus took place on 7 September 1945, accepted by General Joseph Stilwell in what later became the base's Stearley Heights housing area. Wartime units based at Kadena included the 319th Bombardment Group flying A-26 Invaders, the 317th Troop Carrier Group, and the 333d and 346th Bombardment Groups with B-29s, none of which saw combat before the war's end. The 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing arrived from Osan Air Base, South Korea, on 1 November 1954 and has remained the principal USAF flying wing at Kadena ever since. In 1991 three wings, the 376th Strategic Wing, 18th Combat Support Wing and 18th Tactical Fighter Wing, were combined into the single 18th Wing, operating E-3 Sentry, KC-135 Stratotanker and F-15 Eagle aircraft under one command.
Kadena remains fully operational as the host base for the 18th Wing, alongside the 353rd Special Operations Wing and other associated flying units, supporting air superiority, aerial refuelling, airborne warning and control, and combat search and rescue missions. It is described by its operator as the hub of airpower in the Pacific, with around 20,000 American personnel and several thousand Japanese employees working there.