Air Defense Identification Zone
In February 2012, the P-8 made its mission debut during "Bold Alligator" 2012, an annual littoral warfare exercise. In April 2012, it took part in Exercise Joint Warrior, flying out of RAF Lossiemouth. During RIMPAC 2012 in the Hawaiian area, two P-8As participated in 24 scenarios as part of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VX-1) while forward deployed to Marine Corps Base Hawaii. On 29 November 2013, its inaugural deployment began when six aircraft and 12 air crews of squadron VP-16 departed its home station of NAS Jacksonville, Florida, for Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. This deployment was a pre-planned regional re-balancing action, but occurred shortly after China's establishment of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, heightening tensions.