Draft:Hiroaki Uchikura

Hiroaki Uchikura
Hiroaki Uchikura
内倉浩昭
	Official Portrait in 2020
Chief of Staff, Air Self-Defense Force
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 30 March 2023
Preceded by	Shunji Izutsu
Personal details
Born	January 1965 (age 59); Tarumizu, Kagoshima, Japan
Military service
Allegiance	Japan
Branch/service	Japan Air Self-Defense Force
Years of service	1987-present
Rank	General (JASDF)
Commands	5th Air Wing; Nyutabaru Air Base; Air Defense Command; Chief of the Air Staff ;

General Hiroaki Uchikura (内倉浩昭) is a Japanese military officer who has served as the 37th Chief of Staff, Air Self-Defense Force for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force since March 2023.

Biography[edit]

Born in 1965 in the city of Tarumizu in Kagoshima Prefecture^[1] Uchikura graduated from Kagoshima Prefectural Kanoya High School (Japanese: 鹿児島県立鹿屋高等学校) in 1983 and graduated from the National Defense Academy of Japan in March 1987 and joined the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF).

In the JASDF Uchikura served as a pilot flying the F-15 Eagle

In 2001 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned to the 6th Air Wing in December 2003.

In 2006 he was promoted to Colonel and attended the Air Staff College the following year.

Starting in 2008 he was assigned to the Defense Divison of the Air Staff eventually becoming its director in 2010.

In 2012 he was promoted to Major General and made commander of the 5th Air Wing and the Nyutabaru Air Base.

In 2014 he was made the General Manager of Defense of the Air Defense Command followed by an appointment as Deputy Director of the Defense Planning Department of the Joint Staff Supervision Department in 2015.

In 2018 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and posted as a senior member of the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency.

Uchikura was appointed Deputy Chief of Air Staff in 2019 and made Commander of the Air Defense Command the next year.