MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan  -- Several R-Q4 Global Hawks and approximately 40 support and operations personnel are deployed to Misawa Air Base for the aircraft's second rotation here. The Global Hawk supports U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions and contingency operations throughout the Pacific theater, and is scheduled to operate here through December 2015.

In theater, the Global Hawk can provide near real-time aerial imagery reconnaissance support to U.S. and partner nations assisting in a multitude of operations. This capability was effectively employed during Operation Tomodachi, a relief effort launched when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake resulted in a tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan in 2011.