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  • 18th Wing leaders recognize Amelia Earhart students for community impact

    18th Wing leadership visited Amelia Earhart Intermediate School to thank fourth grade students for boosting holiday support to the community at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Dec. 3, 2025. Students at the school helped fundraise over 900 pounds of food to serve 73 families in need during Thanksgiving week.

  • 18th SFS, JGSDF strengthen partnership through tabletop exercise

    Leaders from the 18th Security Forces Squadron met with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 51st Infantry Regiment command team for a tabletop exercise at Kadena Air Base, Oct. 24, 2025.The exercise focused on developing and refining joint defense strategies to protect Okinawa and key regional

  • ODB Director General tours Kadena

    Mr. Masaru Murai, Okinawa Defense Bureau director general, met with Brig. Gen. John Gallemore, 18th Wing commander, and other 18th Wing leadership Sept. 11, 2025, to familiarize himself with Kadena Air Base and introduce himself as the primary bridge between the Government of Japan, U.S. Forces and

  • Kadena’s KC-135s fuel Freedom Edge 25

    U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy assets support the third iteration of Freedom Edge at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Sep. 16, 2025. Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States executed the exercise, demonstrating a new era of trilateral cooperation to ensure peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula

  • 909th powers U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps during large force exercise

    A KC-135 Stratotanker from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron conducts aerial refueling operations with U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning IIs from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 214, Marine Aircraft Group 12, and U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 131, over the Pacific

  • When missiles fly, 1-1 ADA fires back.

    Operating out of Kadena Air Base, the 1-1 Air Defense Artillery commands four Mobile Interceptor Missile-104 Patriot missile batteries, rotating and deploying them across the region when needed while maintaining a constant aerial defense presence on Okinawa. These Soldiers stand ready to defend

  • Fueling the Mission: DLA Energy Okinawa keeps forces moving

    At U.S. military bases across Okinawa, every successful mission depends on one critical resource: fuel. Ensuring that steady supply is the job of the Defense Logistics Agency Energy Okinawa team, who manage the entire fuel supply chain—from delivery to distribution—for all local and visiting U.S.

  • Defense Minister of Japan visits Kadena

    KADENA AIR BASE, Japan — Minister of Defense, Mr. Gen Nakatani, Ministry of Defense, visited the 18th Wing on June 23, 2025, to learn more about the support Okinawa-based forces provide to the broader Pacific theater.

  • Through the fire: 18th MUNS Airmen save local national

    Two U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 18th Munitions Squadron were awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal for heroism and received certificates of appreciation after saving the life of an Okinawa national, June 9, 2025.

  • 33rd RQS commander takes final flight

    U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Louis Nolting, 33rd Rescue Squadron commander and HH-60W Jolly Green II pilot, completes his final flight at Kadena Air Base, Japan, May 30, 2025. Final flights are a time-honored tradition that allow the aircrew's family to have a hand in an important operational moment and

  • U.S. Navy, 909th ARS perform night training over the Pacific

    A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon performs aerial refueling operations with a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker, assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, over the Pacific Ocean, May 29, 2025. Aerial refueling capabilities extend airborne training time and combat radius, ensuring