Japan Air Self-Defense Force  The , JASDF, also referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace and for other aerospace operations. The JASDF carries out combat air patrols around Japan, while also maintaining a network of ground and air early-warning radar systems. The branch also has an aerobatic team known as Blue Impulse and has provided air transport in UN peacekeeping missions. The JASDF had an estimated 50,000 personnel as of 2013, and as of 2020 operates about 740 aircraft, approximately 330 of them fighter aircraft. As early as Fiscal Year 2021, the service's name will change to the Japan Aerospace Self-Defense Force in recognition of the increasing importance of the space domain. Japan did not have a separate air force before and during World War II. Aviation operations were carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (Kōkūtai). Following World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were disbanded in 1945. Article 9 of the United States–written 1947 constitution prevented Japan from having a regular military. On 1 July 1954, the National Security Board was reorganized as the Defense Agency, and the National Security Force was reorganized afterwards as the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ("de facto" post-war Japanese Army), the Coastal Safety Force was reorganized as the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ("de facto" post-war Japanese Navy) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force ("de facto" post-war Japanese Air Force) was established as a new branch of JSDF. General Keizō Hayashi was appointed as the first Chairman of Joint Staff Council—professional head of the three branches. The enabling legislation for this was the 1954 Self-Defense Forces Act (Act No. 165 of 1954). The Far East Air Force, U.S. Air Force, announced on 6 January 1955, that 85 aircraft would be turned over to the fledgling Japanese air force on about 15 January, the first equipment of the new force. The JASDF Air Defense Command Headquarters was relocated from Fuchu Air Base to Yokota Air Base on March 26, 2012. The relocation is due to the 2002 Defense Policy Review Initiative. The purpose is to strengthen the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance. The ADC Headquarters does command and control operations to defend Japanese airspace. Until 2015, women were banned from becoming fighter jet and reconnaissance aircraft pilots. The first female pilot of a F-15 joined the ranks, along with three other female pilots currently in training, in 2018.