Refueling American ships is not the only thing the JSDF is going to stop doing. They are going to stop flying US cargo. I say good, its about time the USAF was made to own up to the truth.
Namely that it has enough airlift here in Asia-but it is horribly mismanaged. This quote for the a USAF officer is pretty amazing when you think of it.
Graham said losing Operation Freedom Lift will mean an increase in payloads on Air Force planes, primarily those at Yokota and Kadena Air Base, Okinawa.
“This just relieved us of some of the load of what we had to take down there,” he added. “Now, there’s another load we’re going to have to pick up. Does it stop the mission? No. But every partner we have helping is an important piece.”
Why? Most cargo under 150 pounds can be moved at a cheaper cost using DHL or Yamato Takubin. To get heavier items to Iwakuni they can be overnight trucked from distribution points in Japan and cut out the Yokota middleman.
The USAF does not offer enough airlift of either pax or cargo between Guam and / or Korea so too many pax go commercial. Which is just as well because the commercial tickets actually prove to be cheaper in some cases than what the USAF charges.
Which is really what makes this little exchange the lie that it is. The simple fact is that if the USAF would be more flexible and not charge an arm and a leg to other components it could move all the cargo requirements in Japan and have capacity to spare.
The airlift crews do a great job generally. They are underutilized though and the thing really falls apart in its administrative piece because of stupid USAF rules. The worst part is that the JASDF folks were just as inflexible as their USAF counterparts. Ask anyone who used their services going down to Iwo Jima. They could have learned it from only on place. Another Mission Canceled (and charged!).
That’s the inconvenient truth they don’t want you to know. Gotta have money for those F-22’s!