| Naha Air Base | |
| Iata: | OKA |
| Icao: | ROAH |
| Type: | Military |
| City-Served: | Naha, Okinawa, Japan |
| Coordinates: | 26.1958°N 127.6458°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Japan |
| Pushpin Label: | ROAH |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Japan |
| Elevation-F: | 11 |
| Metric-Rwy: | y |
| R1-Number: | 18L/36R |
| R1-Length-M: | 3,000 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| Footnotes: | Source: Japanese AIP at AIS Japan[1] |
, formally known as the, is an air base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force formerly under control of the United States Air Force. It is located at Naha Airport on the Oroku Peninsula in Naha, Okinawa, Japan.
Naha Airfield was constructed in 1933 as Oroku Naval Air Base, an air base of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). In 1936 control of the air base was transferred to the Japanese Ministry of Communications and formally renamed Naha Airfield. In 1942 control of the air base again reverted to the IJN, which reverted the name of the installation to Oroku Naval Air Base. The facility was captured by the United States during World War II in the Battle of Okinawa on 1 April 1945.
After World War II the installation became a major United States Air Force (USAF) base under the operational control of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), and was known as Naha Air Base (Naha AB). The installation became a joint military-civilian air field in 1954 with the resumption of civilian air service between Tokyo and Okinawa. The USAF ended its use of Naha AB on 31 May 1971 and control of civil aviation was transferred to the Japanese Ministry of Transportation, which established Naha Airport on the site; control of the military air field was officially transferred to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force in 1979.
Japanese F-15s have been stationed there, with a second squadron of F-15s added in 2014.[2]
Major USAF units assigned to Naha AB were:
16th Fighter Squadron, 22 May 1947 – 22 September 1950 (F-80 Shooting Star)
25th Fighter Squadron, 22 May 1947 – 22 September 1950 (F-80 Shooting Star)
26th Fighter Squadron, 22 May 1947 – 22 September 1950 (F-80 Shooting Star)
Assigned to: 347th Fighter (later Fighter-All Weather) Group, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa
Attached to: 51st Fighter (later Fighter-Interceptor) Group), 19 August 1948
Assigned to: Twentieth Air Force, 24 June 1950
Attached to: 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, 24 June 1950
Flight of 8 aircraft attached to 347th Provisional Fighter Group (All Weather), Itazuke Air Base, Japan, 27 June – 5 July 1950 for combat missions in Korea
Attached to: 6302d Air Base Group, 20 September 1950
Attached to: 6351st Air Base Wing, 25 June 1951–16 February 1953[3] [4]
Assigned to: 6351st Air Base Wing, 25 February-1 August 1954
16th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 August 1954 – 31 May 1971, (F-86 Sabre, F-102 Delta Dagger)
25th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 August 1954 – 8 June 1960, (F-86 Sabre)
26th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 August 1954 – 11 July 1955, (F-86 Sabre)
Assigned to: 313th Air Division, 15 March 1955 – 17 July 1960
Attached to: 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, 27 March 1958 – 17 July 1960
Assigned to: 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, 18 July 1960 – 20 May 1971
Assigned to: 18th Tactical Fighter Wing, 21 May 1971 – 8 July 1973
Assigned to: 483rd Troop Carrier Wing (1958–1960); 315th Air Division (1960–1963) 6315th Operations Group (1963–1966); 374th Tactical Airlift Wing (1966–1971)
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
The Okinawa Prefectural Police, and the Japan Coast Guard also utilize facilities at Naha Airport.
As of 2013, funding in the region of ¥0.3 billion has been requested for preparing the base to host JASDF E-2C aircraft, including ¥70million for new repair and maintenance facilities.[5]