Komatsu Air Base

A kilometre northwest of the runway, the land runs out. This is the only fighter base on Japan’s Sea of Japan coast.

The real base

Komatsu, Ishikawa prefecture. The 6th Air Wing (303rd and 306th Squadrons) is based here, and the 303rd is converting from the F-15J/DJ to the F-35A.

The other half of Komatsu’s identity is the Tactical Fighter Training Group — the JASDF aggressors. They travel the country playing the opposing force in distinctive splinter camouflage, and this is where they live.

The civil side is Komatsu Airport; passenger and cargo flights use the same 2,700 m of pavement.

The terrain we built

17.7 km square. Land ends about a kilometre northwest of the runway — the sea is closer here than at any other base in the game.

There are 15,036 buildings: villages scattered across the Kaga plain with paddy fields between them. The base sits on the seam where the plain meets the coast.

What it is like to fly

You start parked on RWY 06. Raise the gear and you are already over water. Turn back and the plain is behind you, with Mt. Haku (2,702 m) 42 km out on a bearing of 129° off your right wing.

Because the sea arrives so quickly, the circuit turn has to start early. And there are no landmarks over water — this is a base where you have to keep track of where home is yourself.