YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- As the sun was setting behind the mountain terrain, it casted a deep orange hue onto the flight line as UH-1N Iroquois crewmembers completed their pre-flight inspections. Working diligently as twilight faded into darkness, the low hum of the twin turbo shaft engines started signaling the start of the mission for the crew.

The mission for the 459th Airlift Squadron and Japan Air Self-Defense Force Komatsu Air Rescue Squadron was a three-day training designed to utilize night vision goggles on land operations, search and rescue operations and familiarize with each other’s operations during the U.S. and Japan bilateral training exercise Keen Sword 17.

The focus of the training was to familiarize Komatsu Air RQS members with how U.S. Air Force operate with NVGs over land, especially in mountainous terrain.

“The JASDF view using NVGs during land operations as being more dangerous than them during water operations,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jonathan Parka, 459th Airlift Squadron UH-1N pilot, said. “That is interesting to us, because the U.S. rotary wing community finds NVGs water ops significantly more dangerous than land ops. We demonstrated to the Komatsu aircrew how we operate over land so that they can possibly utilize the same tactics in the future.”

Over the course of two days, 459th AS and Komatsu Air RQS members participated in multiple mission briefings, NVGs briefings, hoist familiarization as well as Alternate Insertion and Extraction training.

“During our rescue training, we were given an inject to divert to out to Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji, where we knew the weather was less than ideal,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Nicholas Poe, 459th AS flight engineer. “The crews were able to work together well to make a plan to safely execute the mission.”

Despite the less than ideal conditions, the 459th AS and Komatsu Air RQS members safely accomplished their training mission. Komatsu Air RQS members also had chances to use NVGs over the brightly lit metropolitan Tokyo area.

“This is the first we used NVGs over the bright city lights in Tokyo,” said JASDF Maj. Junichi Okamoto, Komatsu Air RQS UH-60J pilot. “With so much available light, I was able to make out the details of cityscape, making it easy to find potential obstructions.” “It was great opportunity for our crew to be able to use NVGs in many different sorts of scenarios.” Okamoto said.

During the debriefing, crewmembers between JASDF and USAF did not feel any communications barrier, just shared their experience with smile.

The alternating green and red lights emitting from the UH-1N as the crewmembers were beginning their post flight checklist signaled the end of 459th AS and Komatsu Air RQS members’ three-day KS17 training. The opportunity to not only familiarize with each other’s procedures, but also build relationships with one another that can positively impact future bilateral operations.