MSDF, Coast Guard conduct joint antipiracy exercise off Hiroshima+

HIROSHIMA, Feb. 20 Kyodo -
Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japan Coast Guard conducted a joint
antipiracy exercise Friday off the coast of Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, to
prepare for a mission in waters off Somalia to protect Japanese-linked ships
from pirates.
It was the first and perhaps only exercise opened to the media involving the
two services before two MSDF destroyers are dispatched to the pirate-infested
Gulf of Aden next month.
Coast Guard members will board the destroyers during the mission to be on hand
as maritime police officers handle pirates in accordance with Japanese criminal
law.
Friday's exercise involved one MSDF destroyer, a MSDF patrol helicopter and two
Coast Guard vessels with about 200 defense personnel, including members of the
MSDF's elite Special Boarding Unit, and more than 50 Coast Guard officers.
In the exercise, the MSDF destroyer, Takanami, gave warnings to a Coast Guard
patrol boat attempting a ''pirate attack'' on another Coast Guard patrol vessel
purporting to be a commercial ship.
The destroyer then obstructed the ''pirate boat,'' cutting between the two
patrol vessels. Personnel aboard the destroyer videotaped the scene for use as
evidence.
Later in the exercise, MSDF personnel simulated their coordination with Coast
Guard officers by transferring captured ''pirates'' by speedboat and turning
them over to the officers aboard the destroyer.
In an actual encounter with pirates, a MSDF patrol helicopter would fire
warning shots to scare them off, according to MSDF officials. But MSDF
personnel on the mission would only be allowed to use weapons to harm the
pirates under limited circumstances, such as in self-defense.
''While they appear to have coordinated their moves well, it is necessary to
consider more closely how they should be allowed to use weapons in case that
pirates more closely approach a commercial ship,'' Gen Nakatani, a former
Defense Agency chief, said after observing the exercise.
''I'd like to see the new law include foreign ships as the objects of escort,''
the Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker added, referring to an antipiracy law the
government is planning to introduce to the current parliamentary session.
A captain who is expected to lead the antipiracy mission also gave passing
marks to the exercise, saying that through the drill, he was largely able to
achieve what he had intended.
''We will further strengthen our coordination by analyzing and organizing the
details (of the joint drill),'' said Capt. Hiroshi Goto, commander of the MSDF
8th Escort Division.
Absent from Friday's exercise were two destroyers that will participate in the
planned antipiracy mission -- the 4,650-ton Sazanami and 4,550-ton Samidare of
the 8th Escort Division based in Kure.
They are undergoing refurbishment, including the installment of satellite
communications equipment, ahead of their planned dispatch next month, MSDF
officials said.
Late last month, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada directed the MSDF to prepare
for deployment to the Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean and the Red
Sea.
Once a dispatch order is issued, the destroyers will be sent to begin an escort
mission off Somalia in late March at the earliest. Japan is also considering
deploying several P-3C patrol aircraft as part of the mission.
The destroyers will protect Japanese-registered ships and foreign vessels with
Japanese nationals or shipments on board under a maritime police action
provision of the SDF Law, which authorizes the dispatch.
Meanwhile in Tokyo, Prime Minister Taro Aso and Hamada discussed a new bill
aimed at authorizing the Self-Defense Forces to be deployed for missions abroad
with the ability to protect any ships from pirates and affirmed a government
plan to present the bill to parliament in early March, government officials
said.
==Kyodo
2009-02-20 20:29:06