Ruel Binonwangan, Honshu area engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Japan Engineer District, accepts a ceremonial digging tool from a Shinto priest at Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 22, 2023. The ceremony was part of the ground-breaking for a CV-22 Osprey hangar and maintenance facility. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The Air Force has broken ground on a $97 million hangar and maintenance facility for special operations CV-22 Osprey aircraft at this airlift hub in western Tokyo.
The project began Thursday on the east side of Yokota’s runway, Charles Maib, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Japan Engineer District, said in an email Tuesday.
A Japanese Shinto priest took part in a ritual at the site with Ruel Binonwangan, Honshu area engineer for the Japan Engineer District, according to a photograph Maib sent by email.
The 73,300-square-foot, three-bay hangar and maintenance unit is slated to open in early 2026, Maib said in comments emailed by Yokota’s public affairs office.
Concept art for a 73,000-square-foot CV-22 Osprey hangar and maintenance facility under construction at Yokota Air Base, Japan. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
“This $97 million facility will go a long way in protecting the investment America has made in the CV-22 aircraft already present at Yokota Air Base,” he said. “It gives them a home to call their own.”
The Ospreys, helicopter-airplane hybrids flown by the 21st Special Operations Squadron, have operated from temporary facilities on Yokota since October 2018.
The new hangar will be part of a campus to support the Ospreys. The project, underway since 2019, includes 587,000 square feet — equivalent to about 10 football fields — of paved areas.
The hangar will accommodate the 753rd Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Maib said. It will host activities such as CV-22 engine and propeller maintenance, tool crib storage and aircraft inspection.
The facility enables the 353rd Special Operations Wing to consolidate all training and operations at Yokota in a new state-of-the-art facility and co-locate the CV-22 aircraft with squadron personnel, Maib said.
“This project is yet another building block in support of the U.S./Japan Alliance, enhancing the security of the region and the efficiency of the Wing,” he said.
