A giant multi- million dollar C-130 Hercules taxis to park on the east side of the flightline at Yokota Air Base in 2013 – not far from Thursday’s failed mortar attacks.
Now comes a strange report out of Japan of a possible failed terrorist mortar attack on a U.S. military base in Tokyo.
An “improvised launch device” was found outside the United States’ Yokota Air Force base in Tokyo on Thursday night but there were no injuries and no damage, a U.S. military spokesman in Japan said.
The Yokota Air Force base houses over 14,000 personnel.
The base hosts the US 374th Airlift Wing (374 AW) which is a forward unit of the United States Air Force assigned to Fifth Air Force.
The 374th Airlift Wing is the only airlift wing in the area and provides airlift support to all DoD agencies in the Pacific theater of operation.
The air base also houses some of the most advanced aircraft in the US arsenal, including the F-22 Raptor Stealth fighter (see video: F-22 lands at Yokota Air Force Base in Tokyo, Japan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRdzZnvtpk).
“There were no injuries and thus far we have found no damage or impact points here on base,” the spokesman added in a statement on Friday.
Residents near the base in western Tokyo called police last night to report hearing explosions, national broadcaster NHK said, adding that police found several metal pipes pointing at the base in a field some 300 yards away. according to an NBC news report (source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/28/21665246-us-military-improvised-launch-device-found-near-base-in-japan).
Japan is host to almost 50,000 US service personnel and their families.
The two countries have a mutual defense agreement that, in practice, means Tokyo is given shelter under Washington’s significant security umbrella.
According to police there have been “no claim of responsibility in the two attacks” and officials refused to discuss specifics, leaving many people wondering if this incident didn’t represent a failed terrorist attack against the base.
See related article: Japanese officials investigate improvised mortars found outside airbase http://www.stripes.com/news/japanese-officials-investigate-improvised-mortars-found-outside-yokota-air-base-1.2864