Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa is the largest US DoD installation in the Indo-Pacific, and is a hub for US & international ISR aircraft flying missions ranging from monitoring UN sanctions vs the DPRK to high-end SIGINT missions. More photos breakingdefense.com/2025/10/reap...

Naha AB is unique among Japanese airbases in that it is home to JASDF, JGSDF & JMSDF units. I also visited the latter's Fleet Air Wing 5, where I was told (among other things) that their P-3C Orions were "thumped" by PLAN J-15s earlier this year breakingdefense.com/2025/10/chin...

I spent last week in Okinawa, where I learnt during a visit to Naha Airbase that the 2 resident F-15 Hikōtai were responsible for almost 60% of JASDF scrambles last year, and 60-70% of the service's scrambles on average in recent years breakingdefense.com/2025/10/okin...

Breaking Defense adds Mike Yeo as new Bureau Chief for Asia and Indo-Pacific region https://breakingdefense.com/2025/05/breaking-defense-adds-mike-yeo-as-new-bureau-chief-for-asia-and-indo-pacific-region/

Finally photographed Royal Navy OPV HMS Tamar and her striking motif on Saturday. She was heading eastbound in the Strait of Johor after leaving Sembawang in Singapore

Japan stockpiling AMRAAMs with 1,200 AIM-120C-8/D-3s requested and approved

2024 has not been a bad year for aircraft photography

Elon Musk having enough money to do whatever he wants every minute of the rest of his life and he spends it being an Ian Miles Cheong reply guy at 2am, like, for all his financial corrupting and feckless cruelties, I still can’t think of a crueler hell that he deserves than the life he’s made

The first Chinese PLA Navy Type 076 amphibious assault ship was launched on the morning of Dec. 27 at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai. It was named after the province of Sichuan and has a hull number of 51. FYI: www.csis.org/analysis/chi... CC @brianthart.bsky.social

Worth noting there was a big USN/DoD ship presence in Singapore over Christmas: sub tender USS Emory S Land, DDG USS O’Kane, USNS John Ericsson (T-AO), MV Carolyn Chouest (SpecOps mothership) in Sembawang while USS John L Canley (ESB) and 2x LCS in Changi

And the semi-annual Christmas defence surprise from China has just dropped. Seen over Chengdu today

Japan’s ATLA releases concept artwork for its Stand Off Jammer aircraft based on the C-2 airlifter. For some reason I’m getting Total Recall vibes www.mod.go.jp/atla/researc...

At Hualien we got lucky with two F-16V's carrying the AN/VDS-5 LOROP-EO pod, otherwise known as the Phoenix Eye. Any F-16V can carry them, they are then unofficially known as a RF-16V. Also, two F-16V's returned from a CAP sortie with live AIM-9 and AIM-120s. #ROCAF @F-16.net

Just back from Japan & Taiwan. Main goal for the Taiwan trip was the last remaining RF-5E of the 12th TRS at Hualien under the 5th TFW. Two taxied out with a F-5F but the mission got scrubbed because of the weather. Luckily, they had to taxi underneath us on the way back. #ROCAF

USAF A-10s and C-130J at Hanoi’s Gia Lam Airport for the VIDEX defence expo. They are the first US combat aircraft to fly over Hanoi since 1972-73, I believe?

Pretty sure I’m not the 1st to suggest this but honestly haven’t seen this elsewhere but what if Assad regime collapse was due to Putin telling him Russia will no longer prop him up solo after Hezbollah got disemboweled & offered exile instead bec Ru needs the $, men & gear in Syria for Ukraine?

Pictures from rehearsal day Air Tactical Operations Evaluation - taking place on Dec 12. Photos: RTAF 🇹🇭 #Gripen D w/ LITENING III, IRIS-T, AMRAAM

This Getty photo showing the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike at Al-Mezzeh airfield in Damascus is likely at 33.4819, 36.2363 judging by the wreckage of the L-29 Delfin and MiG-21 sitting outside the shelter, which looks like it has a 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) SAM inside

Look I want it to be true as much as the next guy, but I don’t see Bashar as the type who’d would try to get out of Dodge on a bloody Il-76

Some guy in the last few hours: “I don't need ammo, I need a ride”

Japan's defense ministry on Dec. 6 published photos of launch test of ground-launched and ship-launched Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles with improved capabilities. www.mod.go.jp/j/press/news...

For Want of an Oiler: The Fragile State of America’s Afloat Logistics Fleet 1️⃣ USNS Big Horn Grounding 2️⃣ USS Neches Sunk 3️⃣ Vulnerability of at sea #logistics 4️⃣ Use of civilian tanker to refuel a US Navy aircraft carrier Full article at gCaptain.com youtu.be/Vpm7_BGRP-4

“A book dedicated to Ukraine that Amazon won't ship to Ukraine.”

PSA: The “pter” in “pterodactyl” is the same “pter” in “helicopter”. Yes, that’s right: “helicopter” is actually “helico + pter”, not “heli + copter” Ancient Greek: hélix ‘something twisted or spiraling’ pterón ‘wing’ #pterodactyl #helicopter #dino #dinosaur #etymology #linguistics #language

Abraham Lincoln CSG including the destroyers USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) eastbound in the Singapore Strait right now. Another DDG USS Frank E. Petersen left Singapore heading east this afternoon as well

Su-7s are so pretty

Reconnecting with the Twitter homies on Bluesky

Story of my life: see plane, photograph plane, buy model kit of plane 🫤

I googled “USS Lincoln” over at the other site and cripes the results show what a cesspit of disinformation that has become

A China PLA Navy fleet comprising Type 075 landing helicopter dock CNS Hainan and Type 052D destroyer CNS Changsha will visit Hong Kong from Nov. 21 to 25. eng.mod.gov.cn/xb/News_2131...

Very true

This footage was shot near the Great Reno Balloon Race back in Sept 2023. Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard. #avgeek #aviation #balloon

Numbers to be aware of.

Nick Millman has a short sharp review of my book Desperate Sunset over at Aviation of Japan www.aviationofjapan.com/2024/11/book...

Welcome to all the new followers. As the bio says, I’m an occasionally unserious and sarcastic defence reporter, author and plane spotter focused on the Asia-Pacific with a side interest in scale modelling and Pacific War history. A sample of the stuff you’ll see me post here are in these photos

China PLA Navy aircraft carrier CNS Fujian departed a shipyard in Shanghai for its fifth sea trial on Nov. 18. Photos show mockups of at least two types of aircraft are placed on its fight deck. Photos from Jsport_三汽 on Weibo

Debatable the An-2 is the best, but it’s certainly a contender in my books!

Good OSINT starter pack. Time to get back into this

Everybody, please put up a profile picture, even if it is only a picture of your cat. And write at least a few words in your bio. It is hard to distinguish people from bots otherwise. Thank you. And thanks to those who follow me.

This is a good point - do something with your profile *before* you start following people. I try to go through who you new followers are so I don't miss out on good people to follow back, but when it's just a handle that's a tad difficult.

Three F-22s and a MiG-29 fly a missing man formation during Col. (ret) Gaillard Peck's funeral ceremony at US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Nov. 14. Peck was instrumental in creation of 4477th Red Eagles Squadron which flew MiG-21s and MiG-23s to train US military aviators.

USAF to start the drawdown of A-10s of the 25th Fighter Sqn from Osan AB in South Korea from Jan 2025 onwards. To be totally withdrawn by end of FY25 (Sep 2025). End of the permanent A-10 presence in the WestPac

My workplace for a couple of days this past week. It should be against the law to have to work in a place like this, even if work involved observing a ship-to-shore exercise

Another 4-year roller coaster ride. Woop Dee Doo

Easy

I so want to build a Tamiya F-4B as a MiG-killer, but the photos of them as bomb trucks with unusual ordnance are so compelling. Here is NE102/151427 of VF-21 dropping M57/M81 WWII-vintage 250-lb bombs in 1965-66

the gradual replacement of “exchanging money for goods” with “exchanging money for a license to use goods as a service” has been one low key one of the worst changes of the 21st century

If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing

Hope everyone's enjoying/has enjoyed their meal as much as this Crimson Rosella outside my front yard