 busy schedule to join us today in this momentous occasion of the standing up of the 319th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Kanoya Air Base. The ceremony is performed in the presence of the members of the unit allowing each person to observe the placing of authority with their new commander. All command authority and responsibility will be transferred to Latina Colonel Kelly the moment he salutes Colonel Oh and says ladies and gentlemen the commander 319th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron Latina Colonel Alexander Kelly we had a C-17 land came in and it had 18 pallets on it got our crew together we got the 60 k-loader what we used to download the aircraft and a forklift pulled up to the back of the aircraft loadmaster came in spotted us in and at that point we started to download we downloaded six pallets at a time with the k-loader and then at the forklift right behind it to pull the single pallets off took us about an hour to download all 18 pallets and we had a five man these are the final pieces that will allow us to then build and assemble the aircraft so then we can start our operations and our flights most of our tools we got age equipment stuff to help store raised aircraft our tie-down so we can safely perform all the operations and checks next step is to we're going to inventory it make sure we have everything we need and then we're going to go ahead and we're going to start the build of our aircraft and then after that we're going to then begin our test flights so I'm a crew chief we don't have we have no back shops I'm the engine troop the hydro troop between me and my guys we're the ones that assemble the aircraft has this hole and then we perform most of tests until we get to the avionics portion then we pass that on to our specialist equipment that's going to help start our initial build so once I came in we went right into it we were able to get the aircraft body out install the wings the tails and as you can see behind me the prop is finally installed so we still have a additional components to install but we're pretty much ahead of schedule but we would like to see for today my guys did amazing today so like I said we're definitely ahead of schedule they have been wanting to get right into work so after that last C-17 arrived we went right into it but once we start getting more aircraft filled up we can start doing our operational checks be able to establish a link between our GCS which is a ground control station our GTs ground data terminals and allow the ops crew to actually be able to start flying so very critical step today I would just like to express my gratitude not only to my maintenance team but the boss function they've been a huge essential part in making sure this mission becomes successful so thank you an increasingly severe security environment in the Indo-Pacific region the US Japan Alliance has repeatedly committed to bolstering our defensive capabilities this MQ9 deployment is just one more way in which we are working together as an alliance to enhance our bilateral abilities to maintain our mutual peace and prosperity this deployment has been planned in coordination with Japan and in support of the US Indo-Pacific Command's intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance operations as you know the 319th exhibition reconnaissance squadron was formally stood up on 1 October 2022 and is comprised of professional service members from various bases such as Masawa, Karina and Yakota air bases here in Japan others have arrived from bases in Guam, Hawaii, Alaska and Nevada to participate in this mission the aircrew and aircraft are from the 432nd wing headquartered at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada these personnel will be repost responsible for the launch and recovery and maintenance of the MQ9's preparations are well underway to ready the aircraft and airmen for this important mission I'm encouraged by the progress we're making and appreciate the tremendous support we're receiving from our SDF partners and the local community we expect the first operational flight to take place this month the BIAC exemplifies the evolution of shared Japan US defense initiatives resulting from shared mutual security interests in the region as regional globe and global threats have increased so has the cooperation imperative for us therefore having a first real time information sharing capability between the JSDF and US is very very important the BIAC will provide timely reports from data collected by US and Japan ISR facilitating joint analysis analysis subject matter experts will increase regional threat situational awareness in order to support informed decision making by defense leaders of both countries China's unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force and North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches the establishment of this organization further strengthened the persistent monitoring posture against unusual actions of vessels in the area surrounding Japan and contribute to enhance the deterrence against provocative actions and core seep attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the region