Navy base near Tokyo a ‘model for US-Japan integration,’ incoming commander says

NAVAL AIR FACILITY ATSUGI, Japan — This shared naval base near Tokyo provides a model for U.S.-Japan training and integration, an essential element for deterring Russia and China, the incoming and outgoing facility commanders said Thursday.

Capt. Jeff Schwab, who began his career as a helicopter pilot, took the helm of NAF Atsugi and relieved Capt. Nicolas Leclerc during a ceremony inside hangar 1430.

Leclerc, who took command in August 2023, will retire, concluding a 26-year Navy career. After he thanked friends, family and his fellow sailors, Leclerc highlighted the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance, which he called one of the “most consequential partnerships in the world.”

“When U.S. and Japanese forces operate together, we send a clear message: The Indo-Pacific will remain free and open,” he told the audience of about 160 people.

Leclerc went on to highlight the two countries’ shared commitment to maintaining a “peaceful and stable Taiwan” and deterring China from expansionist or aggressive action in the region.

“These are not future concerns; they are present realities, and the alliance is how we meet them,” he said. “It is the foundation of regional stability, and it is strengthened every day by the sailors, airmen, soldiers, Marines and civilians who serve here at Atsugi and across Japan.”

Capt. Jeff Schwab, incoming commander of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, arrives for his change-of-command ceremony at the base outside Tokyo, Aug. 20, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

Schwab, most recently the senior military assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, made similar remarks.

“We are uniquely positioned a few thousand kilometers away from China, North Korea and Russia — and next year is 2027,” he told the audience. “Each of those countries seek to disrupt the free and open Indo-Pacific that our two countries have built together.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered his military to be prepared to invade Taiwan by 2027, then-CIA director William Burns said in February 2023, although experts question Beijing’s ability to carry out an invasion by that date.

China views democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be politically reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

After the ceremony, Schwab and Leclerc further emphasized the U.S.-Japan alliance’s status as the cornerstone of security and deterrence in the region.

“We are the preparedness hub for the 7th Fleet to develop its readiness,” Leclerc told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony. “As [Schwab] said in his speech, that readiness comes from the things we do every single day with the [Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force] and the U.S. Navy.”

Schwab graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He trained to pilot the SH-60F and HH-60H variants of the Seahawk helicopter and served on two deployments aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

He later served in a variety of roles, including as a helicopter operations officer for Carrier Air Wing 2, which deployed aboard the Abraham Lincoln at the time. He also served as the executive and commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23.

He also holds a master’s in business administration from the Naval Postgraduate School and a master’s in national security strategy from the National War College.