Japan to Dispatch Three MSDF Vessels to Indian Ocean |
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The Japanese government on Thursday approved a plan to dispatch three Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) vessels to the Indian Ocean to gather various data for a separate contingent to be sent later to assist the U.S.-led military anti-terrorism campaign against Afghanistan.
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The Japanese government on Thursday approved a plan to dispatch three Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) vessels to the Indian Ocean to gather various data for a separate contingent to be sent later to assist the U.S.-led military anti-terrorism campaign against Afghanistan.
The Security Council of Japan, chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, endorsed the plan at a meeting Thursday evening, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
The fleet, which includes two destroyers, the 5,200-ton Kurama and the 4,550-ton Kirisame, and a supply ship, the 8,100-ton Hamana, will leave the MSDF's Sasebo base in Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Friday morning, Japanese government officials said.
The three vessels will gather information in areas such as the Strait of Malacca to help plan the course of the separate Self-Defense Forces (SDF) contingent expected to be dispatched later this month to lend logistical support to the campaign.
The second fleet will be sent to the area after the government draws up a basic plan that specifies the activities and size of the contingent under a newly enacted law for providing rear-area noncombat support to the military operations.
Activities envisioned by the Japanese government include the transport of supplies from U.S. facilities in Japan to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, where U.S. aircraft carriers and bombers carrying out the strikes are based.
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