A U.S. Air Force RQ-4b Global Hawk Block 40 assigned to the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron is prepared for flying operations at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on May 27, 2026. (Jacob Wood/U.S. Air Force)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The Air Force relocating a fleet of RQ-4 Global Hawk drones from Guam to this airlift hub in western Tokyo does more than remove them from a dangerous typhoon corridor, according to defense experts.
The movement of three aircraft and 150 airmen assigned to the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron, 319th Operations Group to Yokota from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was announced by Japan’s Defense and Foreign Ministries on May 28.
The U.S. Air Force has not confirmed the number of aircraft or airmen who have arrived in Tokyo so far.
“The only surprise here is that it took this long to make the (permanent) move,” Ralph Cossa, former president of the Pacific Forum think tank in Hawaii, said by email Monday. “This sends a signal of U.S. commitment to Japan and also increases U.S. ability to respond to Taiwan contingencies.”
The East China Sea and Taiwan Strait are closer to Yokota than Guam, and the South China Sea is an equal distance away, Leland Bettis, a director of the Guam-based Pacific Center for Island Security, said by email the same day. Taiwan is 1,300 miles from Tokyo and 1,700 miles from Guam.
Removing the drones from Guam’s often intense typhoon season is an advantage, squadron commander Lt. Col. Adam Otten said Friday outside one of the two renovated Yokota hangars occupied by his aircraft.
“It has an impact on operations,” he said of typhoon season, which peaks in Guam between late August and mid-November, according to Andersen’s website. “For the RQ-4, this is the right place to be.”
Lt. Col. Adam Otten, commander of the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron, on June 26, 2026, outside newly renovated hangars that his unit recently occupied on Yokota Air Base, Japan. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
Typhoon Mawar in May 2023, for example, left behind damage on Guam that took years to completely repair.
The Global Hawks found their new home on Yokota’s east side near the new U.S. Space Force Japan headquarters and a yet-to-open campus for Air Force CV-22 Osprey special operations aircraft.
The 4th Reconnaissance Squadron fields the high altitude, long endurance Global Hawk to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to the U.S. and its allies.
The drones began temporary deployments to Misawa Air Base in 2014 and have continued to travel there and to Yokota each year during typhoon season.
Getting away from typhoons is likely not the sole reason for the squadron’s move, which comes as U.S. Forces Japan reorganizes itself into a warfighting command, said Grant Newsham, a senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.
“Generally, it is better for a commander to have his forces and units (and their hardware) in reasonably close proximity to each other,” he said by email Monday. “It simplifies operations and makes them more efficient and also tends to create an important level of ‘familiarity’ between all parts of the command.”
The Global Hawks’ temporary deployments to Japan helped acclimate locals and show that the planes don’t add to noise and safety concerns, according to Cossa.
Some people are nervous about remotely piloted aircraft, Otten said. He fell back on the aircraft’s record for safety.
“We have very well-trained personnel that operate one of the safest air frames in the Air Force inventory,” he said.
