Photo/Illutration An F-16 fighter jet of the U.S. Air Force at the Maritime Self-Defense Force Hachinohe Air Base in Aomori Prefecture in June (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Washington plans to give operational command authority to U.S. forces in Japan to bolster coordination with the Self-Defense Forces, Japanese government sources said.

The U.S. government will explain the move to restructure U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) at a meeting of Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers scheduled to be held in Tokyo on July 28, they said.

The SDF plans to establish a joint operations command for its ground, maritime and air branches by next spring.

The restructured USFJ will serve as the counterpart of the SDF’s joint operations command and bolster coordination in operational planning and troop operations, the sources said.

Currently, the USFJ, a subordinate command of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, has no operational command authority and is primarily in charge of managing bases and troops.

Operational command rests with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which is based Hawaii and covers a vast area, making it difficult to closely coordinate with the SDF.

In April, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to strengthen coordination between the SDF and the USFJ in command-and-control operations, and U.S. officials have been considering ways to achieve it.

The U.S. military is far ahead of the SDF in terms of intelligence capabilities and equipment.

Experts have said the primary challenge for Japan is to maintain the independence of its operational command authority when the SDF moves to closer coordination with the U.S. military in command-and-control activities.

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