Misawa AB

Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō
Part of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF)
Located near: Misawa, Aomori, Japan
Security Hill at Misawa Air Base with AN/FLR-9 in the 1990s
Coordinates	40°42′19″N 141°22′19″E / 40.70528°N 141.37194°E / 40.70528; 141.37194 (Misawa AB)
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force Japan Air Self-Defense Force
Open to the public	Misawa Air Festival (三沢航空祭)
Site history
Built	1938
In use	1938–present
Garrison information
Garrison	35th Fighter Wing (USAF)

Misawa Air Base
IATA: MSJ ICAO: RJSM
Summary
Operator	USAF, JASDF
Elevation AMSL	119 ft / 36 m
Coordinates	40°42′19″N 141°22′19″E / 40.70528°N 141.37194°E / 40.70528; 141.37194Coordinates: 40°42′19″N 141°22′19″E / 40.70528°N 141.37194°E / 40.70528; 141.37194
Website	www.misawa.af.mil
Map
RJSM Location of Misawa Air Base
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 10/28 3,050 10,007 Asphalt/Concrete
Source: Japanese AIP at AIS Japan :A.^ The text version gives a runway length of 3,050 by 45 m (10,007 by 148 ft) and the aerodrome chart a length of 10,000 by 150 ft (3,048 by 46 m)

Misawa Air Base (三沢飛行場, Misawa Hikōjō^?) (IATA: MSJ, ICAO: RJSM) is a U.S. military facility located 3 NM (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) northeast of the railway station in Misawa, 3 mi (4.8 km) west of the Pacific Ocean, 10 mi (16 km) northeast of Towada, 18 mi (29 km) northwest of Hachinohe, and 425 mi (684 km) north of Tokyo, in Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region in the northern part of the island of Honshū of Japan. It is a Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) facility with the 35th Fighter Wing (35 FW) as its host wing.

Misawa is the only combined, joint service installation in the western Pacific. It houses three U.S. military services (Air Force, Navy and Army, as well as the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The base is home to 5,200 US military personnel, as well as 350 US civilian employees and 900 Japanese national employees.

The Misawa Passive Radio Frequency space surveillance site was used for tracking satellites using the signals they transmit. It also provided coverage of geosynchronous satellites using the Deep Space Tracking System (DSTS) but was dismantled around 2002. The Misawa Security Operations Center (MSOC), located in the northwestern part of the Air Base, is believed to be one of the largest ECHELON ground stations.