Where the F-2 Flies From — Hyakuri, Tsuiki, Matsushima, Gifu

Only 94 F-2s were built, and there are not many places they live. This is where they are and what they do there, from publicly available material.

1. The squadrons

Three operational squadrons. A squadron’s established strength is 18 single-seat A models and 2 two-seat B models — 20 aircraft.

2. Hyakuri — the F-2 comes to the capital region

Omitama, Ibaraki prefecture, about 80 km north-east of Tokyo, with two 2,700 m runways. The civil side operates as Ibaraki Airport, an unusual arrangement where an air base and a passenger terminal share the same runways.

The 3rd Squadron was the first unit to receive the F-2. It spent years at Misawa, then moved to Hyakuri in March 2020 — the first time F-2s have stood air defence for the capital region.

In F-2 MISSIONS: Hyakuri Air Base — two parallel 2,700 m runways on the flat of the Kantō plain.

3. Tsuiki — two F-2 squadrons

Fukuoka prefecture, on the north coast of Kyushu facing the Suo Sea.

Alongside the 6th Squadron, the 8th Squadron moved down from Misawa in 2016, giving the base two F-2 squadrons — part of strengthening the south-western approaches. It is where the largest concentration of F-2s is.

In F-2 MISSIONS: Tsuiki Air Base — the Suō Sea off one end of the runway, the Hikosan range behind you.

4. Matsushima — where F-2B pilots are trained

Yamoto, Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture, on flat coastal ground facing Ishinomaki Bay.

The two runways cross in an X, which is what Matsushima looks like from the air. An approach to RWY 07 comes in from over Ishinomaki Bay.

The 21st Squadron here trains fighter pilots on the F-2B: it is where a pilot who has finished basic training learns the fundamentals of combat flying in an actual fighter. The same base is home to the Blue Impulse display team (11th Squadron).

In F-2 MISSIONS: Matsushima Air Base — both real runways at full size, crossing in an X. It is where the game begins.

5. Gifu — test and evaluation

Kakamigahara, Gifu prefecture, home of the Air Development and Test Wing, which flies the trials for new equipment and modifications. The F-2 prototypes flew from here. It is the base where you see airframes in test markings without a squadron badge.

6. Misawa — where the F-2 used to live

Misawa, Aomori prefecture, a jointly used Japan–US base that once hosted two F-2 squadrons, the 3rd and the 8th. With both gone, the JASDF’s fighter presence there is now the F-35A.

It comes up in any history of the F-2, so it is worth naming.

In F-2 MISSIONS: Misawa Air Base — one 3,048 m runway, the Hakkōda mountains dead ahead on departure.

7. What 2,700 m means

Land base runways are usually somewhere around 2,700 m. That is enough for an F-2 to bleed off speed on the brakes and the airbrake and stop comfortably.

A carrier is the comparison. The distance available for an arrested landing is the stretch of deck the wires are strung across. It is an order of magnitude shorter.

Which is why landing aboard is a different operation from landing on a runway. You hold a constant rate of descent all the way down and fly the aircraft into a single chosen point — which is what Procedures and Stalls and Turns are about.

The reason F-2 MISSIONS starts you at the carrier is that it is where the hardest conditions in flying all appear at once.

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Sources

• Mitsubishi F-2 — Wikipedia
• Matsushima Air Base — Wikipedia (Japanese)
• Matsushima Air Base — JASDF
• Hyakuri Air Base overview — JASDF
• Resumption of F-2 flight training at Matsushima — Defense of Japan 2016

This article is commentary based on publicly available information.