Japan prepares for first use of ‘Son of Star Wars’ missile defence

Japan risks international humiliation if it tries and fails to take out a North Korean rocket with the expensive SM-3 missile system
Richard Lloyd Parry, Tokyo

Japan is preparing to deploy a controversial missile defence system against an imminent North Korean rocket launch, in what could be the first use of the so-called “Son of Star Wars” system to knock out an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In a move that could have strategic implications for the whole northeast Asian region, the Japanese Government plans to dispatch naval destroyers equipped with anti-missile systems to the seas off North Korea, as the isolated dictatorship continues preparations for the launch of a rocket.

As long as the weapon passes through the atmosphere far above Japan, as seems to be the intention, the system will probably not be fired. But if the rocket malfunctions and threatens any of its islands, then Japan will become the first nation to use a long-range missile defence system in anger.

“If it is capable of reaching Japan then it goes without saying that we will react,” Japan’s defence minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said today. “We have been making preparations, including BMD [ballistic missile defence], for any incident which could affect Japan. If it will affect Japan then it will be our target.”

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported today that the destroyers Kongo and Chokai will be sent to the Sea of Japan that separates the two countries. Both are equipped with SM-3 missiles that are designed to intercept an incoming ballistic missile midway through its course, after it has passed beyond the earth’s atmosphere and into space. But the political and strategic risks of such an attempt are very large.

German navy foils Somali pirate attack

The German navy has foiled a pirate attack on a container ship off the Somali coast and arrested nine pirates. A military spokesman in Berlin said the frigate Rheinland-Pfalz received a distress call in the Gulf of Aden early on Tuesday from a German-owned ship that reported to be under fire from pirates armed with bazookas and machine guns. The German frigate, with the assistance of a nearby US naval ship was able to halt and board the pirates’ vessel and took nine pirates into custody.

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Mullen on Iran: Nuke weapon capability exists

The top U.S. military official said Sunday that Iran has sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon, declaring it would be a “very, very bad outcome” should Tehran move forward with a bomb.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered the assessment when questioned in a broadcast interview about a recent report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on the state of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which can create nuclear fuel and may be sufficiently advanced to produce the core of warheads.

Mullen was asked if Iran now had enough fissile material to make a bomb. He responded, “We think they do, quite frankly. And Iran having a nuclear weapon I’ve believed for a long time is a very, very bad outcome for the region and for the world.”

State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said Sunday that it was not possible say how much fissile material Iran has accumulated.

Mullen, Gates confident in pullout process

The top U.S. uniformed military official says he’s comfortable with the president’s decision on a troop pullout timetable from Iraq.

And Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he thinks it is “fairly remote” that conditions in Iraq will change enough to alter significantly President Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw U.S. troops.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” Adm. Mike Mullen says he was able to offer his best military advice to President Barack Obama. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman is reluctant to talk about “winning and losing” in Iraq. But he says the conditions are in place for the Baghdad government to successfully take control of the country.

Mullen says Obama listened extensively to the American military leadership and U.S. commanders in Iraq before announcing last week that the combat mission would end on Aug. 31, 2010.

JCS Chairman: North Korea watched closely

The U.S. is watching North Korea even more closely these days because of reports the North plans to test-fire a long-range missile.

The top U.S. military official says it’s an area of great concern. Adm. Mike Mullen says he would hope that North Korea would not be “provocative.”

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman notes that the North has launched missiles before. He says neither he nor Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made a recommendation about what to do if there is a launch. Mullen says any recommendations and policy decisions will come based on the timing and what the North does.

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Aid-laden US ships give up on Burma

US warships laden with supplies for Burma’s cyclone victims will sail away after the junta refused their help, even after aid workers pleaded for more help to reach about a million survivors.

The US Navy said they would withdraw the four ships – carrying helicopters, amphibious vehicles and water purifying equipment – from off the coast after repeated attempts to convince the regime to let them in.

“But they have refused us each and every time. It is time for the USS Essex group to move on to its next mission,” Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of US Pacific Command, said in a statement.

“I am both saddened and frustrated to know that we have been in a position to help ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people and help mitigate further loss of life, but have been unable to do so because of the unrelenting position of the Burma military junta,” he added.

US-Iran naval contacts would be useful: US admiral

Contacts between the American and Iranian naval fleets would be useful once the Islamic Republic stopped backing violence in Iraq, the top US naval commander in the Middle East said in an interview published Wednesday.

Speaking to the Financial Times in Washington, Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff said the United States and the Soviet Union had benefitted from naval contacts in the Cold War.

Asked whether the United States and Iran would benefit from such contacts, Cosgriff replied: “I think they would.”

He noted, however, that the United States could not have a “normal relationship” with Iran while the latter sponsored attacks on US forces in neighbouring Iraq.

Cosgriff said negotiations for a 1972 agreement between the United States and Soviet Union “created an opportunity for the two navies to talk … And then that led to other things — visits and those sorts of things.”

China says Japan navy ship to make breakthrough visit

China announced on Tuesday that it will host a visit by a Japanese navy ship this month as the two big Asian neighbours seek to ease tensions over military ambitions.

The visit will be the first by a vessel from Japan’s post-war Maritime Self-Defense Force, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference.

Japan’s 1947 constitution bans maintaining a military but has been held by successive governments to allow forces for self-defence alone.

“China and Japan should strive together to enhance exchanges between their two peoples to strengthen friendship,” Qin said. “This visit will help promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries’ defence departments,” he added.

The two sides were still negotiating the date and other details of the ship visit, he said. A Chinese navy ship visited Japan in November.

I’ve seen some things in my years in the Navy that I thought were a little over the top, but this takes the prize, hands down:

The US Navy will conduct background checks on its 20,000 sailors and civilians in Japan after a series of crimes including the murder of a taxi driver, a local city office said….

In the survey starting next month, the first of its kind for US forces in Japan, the military will ask all 20,000 naval service members and civilian personnel about their lifestyles and attitudes.

If the military finds those with problematic attitudes or violent tendencies, it would give them intensive training and counselling, according to a document that the US Navy gave to the city.

First of all, now that the cat’s out of the bag, just how many of these Sailors and civilians do you think will honestly fill out the survey knowing they could subject themselves to reprogramming? And what will this survey look like? Just imagine…

Q: You wife has just baked your favorite kind of cookies, but she says you must wait until after dinner to have one. Do you:

A. Heed her warning and wait.
B. Wait until she’s not looking and steal one.
C. Talk your impressionable young child into stealing one for you.
D. Assert your kingship over the household and bash her head in with a hammer.

Hmmm…that’s a tough one.

I think perhaps it’s time the Navy take a close look at the leadership in Yokosuka and how they’ve been managing the “liberty incident” problem. You know, I don’t hear many stories of Sailors in Norfolk or Gaeta or Bahrain or even Sasebo killing for cab fare. Could it be the local policies in Yoko are driving them over the edge?

[Update] Here’s the story with the Navy’s spin.

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US Gates: Carrier Sent To Persian Gulf As `Reminder’

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that sending a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a ” reminder” to Iran, but he said it is not an escalation of force.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders, Gates said heightening U.S. criticism of Iran and its support for terrorist groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the groundwork for a strike against Tehran.

Still, he said Iran continues to back the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“I do not have a sense at this point of a significant increase in Iranian support for the Taliban and others opposing the government in Afghanistan,” Gates said. “There is, as best I can tell, a continuing flow, but I would still characterize it as relatively modest.”

His comments contrasted with those from Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said last week that he had not seen any new signs of Iranian support for the Taliban.

Gates played down the addition of a second carrier to the Gulf, saying that the number of ships there rises and falls continuously. He said he does not expect there to be two carriers there for a long time.

Asked if the carrier move went hand-in-hand with the rising U.S. rhetoric against Iran, Gates said, “I don’t see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder.”

US Navy in Japan to screen service members: officials

The US Navy will conduct background checks on its 20,000 sailors and civilians in Japan after a series of crimes including the murder of a taxi driver, a local city office said Wednesday.Rear Admiral James Kelly, commander of US naval forces in close ally Japan, explained the plan in a visit to the mayor of Yokosuka, a port city near Tokyo that hosts the largest US naval base overseas.

In the survey starting next month, the first of its kind for US forces in Japan, the military will ask all 20,000 naval service members and civilian personnel about their lifestyles and attitudes.

If the military finds those with problematic attitudes or violent tendencies, it would give them intensive training and counselling, according to a document that the US Navy gave to the city.

“The programme drawn by the US Navy in Japan this time will be proposed to the (other) US forces in Japan in the mid and long-term,” the document said.

Heavily armed pirates attack Thai, South Korea ships

Heavily armed pirates attacked a Thai oil tanker carrying jet fuel in Malaysian waters and a South Korean vessel in the pirate infested Gulf of Aden, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday.

Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre, told AFP that in the April 25 incident, eight armed pirates on a powerful speedboat boarded the Thai tanker.

Maritime officials identified the tanker as “Pataravarin 2.”

Choong said the pirates attacked the ship’s master and stole seafarers money before escaping in the dark.

The ship was heading into the Singapore Strait on the way to Phuket in southern Thailand, he said.

Choong said this was the second pirate attack since January this year in Malaysian waters.

In another incident in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, a South Korean bulk carrier came under pirate attack on Monday at about 0940 GMT, he said.

Russia proposes price escalation of $1.2 bn for Gorshkov

Russia has proposed a price escalation of a staggering $1.2 billion for re-equipping aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and technical evaluation and negotiations in this regard are underway, the government said on Wednesday.

Replying to questions in Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister A K Antony said the Russian side has indicated revision in time and cost for repairing the aircraft carrier due to ‘growth of work’.

“The price escalation proposed by the Russian side is $1,202 million. The process of examination of the scope and necessity for additional work projected by the Russian side has been initiated,” he said.

Under a contract worth $1.5 billion signed between Russia and India in 2003, Moscow [Images] was to deliver the carrier along with its compliment of MiG-29K fighters in August 2007.

But just months short of the scheduled delivery, Moscow stunned New Delhi by asking for an increase in cost to almost double, saying the warship needed a lot of additional work and would have to undergo almost a year-long sea trial in Russian waters.

FRANCE, US TO SUBMIT UN DRAFT TO COMBAT SOMALIA PIRACY

A Franco-US draft text was to go before the UN Security Council Monday authorizing states to send warships into Somalia’s territorial waters to combat piracy, diplomats said.

The text would give a six-month mandate to states cooperating with Somalia’s transitional government “to enter the territorial waters of Somalia for the purposes of identifying and pursuing pirates and armed robbers and of deterring, preventing and suppressing acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea.”

They must do so “in a manner consistent with such action permitted on the high seas with respect to piracy under relevant international law,” it added.

During such hot pursuit operations inside Somalia’s territorial waters, the states would be empowered to use “all necessary means to identify, deter, prevent, and repress acts of piracy and armed robbery.”

These means would include actions such as boarding, searching, and seizing vessels engaged in or suspected of engaging in piracy or armed robbery.

They would also be authorized to “apprehend persons engaged in such acts with a view to such persons being prosecuted.”

11 Somalis sentenced to life for piracy

A court in Somalia’s northern breakaway state of Puntland on Monday sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment for piracy, a senior government official told AFP.

“The High Court of Puntland sentenced 11 pirates to life in prison,” Puntland state administration officer Bile Mohamud Qabowsade said.

“Seven of them were caught during a raid last week while the other four were detained for collaborating with the pirates,” he said.

“The court found them guilty… of taking people hostage with the aim of obtaining a ransom,” said Qabowsade, also an adviser to the Puntland president.

Most of the 11 had been detained during an operation by the Puntland security forces against pirates who had seized a boat from the United Arab Emirates and contracted by a Somali businessman.

SKorea, Japan plan wider military cooperation

South Korea and Japan plan to sign their first comprehensive agreement on military cooperation, the defence ministry said Monday, in another sign of warming ties between the two historic enemies.

The two countries “are pushing to sign a comprehensive agreement on military cooperation,” a ministry spokesman told AFP.

“Bilateral military cooperation so far has been on a much smaller and irregular basis,” the spokesman said.

“No details have yet been fixed and there is no concrete date yet for signing it.”

Such an agreement would be the first since Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean peninsula ended in 1945 after 35 years.

Yonhap news agency said it was likely to be signed during a visit by Japan’s Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba sometime this year.

Austal Completes Production Of Navy Warship

The Independence, a Navy warship designed for near shore operations, rolled off the production line at Austal’s shipyard in Mobile.

Austal CEO Bob Browning said the Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, took 27 months to build. It entered the water Saturday night for testing and will be christened at a ceremony later this year.

“It only draws a draft of little under 12 feet for a ship that size, so it’s capable of doing anti-submarine warfare, mine detection avoidance it’s a very, very flexible platform,” said Browning.

Browning said Austal will break ground soon on a modular manufacturing facility in the port. If the Navy approves, Austal hopes to produce six warships a year and double its workforce.

However, the price tag on each prototype vessel has risen past the half- billion-dollar mark after an initial estimate of about $220 million, causing some members of Congress to be hesitant about additional funding.

The Navy ultimately wants its overall fleet to include 313 vessels, including 55 of the LCS type, and early this month requested funding for three more LCS over the next few years.

Pirates holding French yacht shoot at militia

Pirates who hijacked a luxury French yacht off Somalia last week have opened fire at local gunmen who stopped them from coming ashore in the chaotic Horn of Africa nation, witnesses said on Monday.

The Ponant was seized on Friday with its 30-strong crew as it sailed through the Gulf of Aden. Of the ship’s 30-strong crew, 22 are French, and most of the others are Ukrainian or Korean. Six are women.

Somali Officials Back Assault on Pirates

Somali officials on Monday urged tough action against pirates holding a French yacht after an elite French paramilitary unit was placed on standby to intervene if negotiations fail.

The local governor in Somalia’s breakaway northern region of Puntland, Musa Ghelle Yusuf, said he would be “happy… to see the pirates killed” as a small French warship, the Commandant Bouan, maintained permanent surveillance of the vessel.

“The French and American ships must attack the pirates. They have our blessing,” Ghelle told AFP by phone, adding that the hijackers have been encouraged by ransoms paid in previous ship seizures.

“These pirates are terrorists and there is no need to negotiate with them,” Ghelle said. “Attacking them will solve future piracy plans.”

In Paris, a defence source said troops from the gendarmerie’s elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit were sent to Djibouti where they will remain until further orders.

Navy lifts drinking ban for Yokosuka

Five days after ordering all beer and alcohol pulled off store shelves and instituting a 10 p.m. off-base curfew, a top Navy commander is lifting the no-alcohol restrictions as of Monday night.

The latest revision to Navy liberty rules here, however, imposes a midnight cutoff for drinking alcohol on or off base, two hours earlier than what liberty rules traditionally had permitted.

Rear Adm. James D. Kelly, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Japan, had ordered the alcohol ban and a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for all Navy personnel attached to Yokosuka Naval Base.

“We are removing the curfew. That will go back into effect today,” Kelly said during a Monday afternoon interview at his office. “We are allowing alcoholic beverage sales, and we’re asking for people to maintain non-public consumption of alcohol between midnight and [6 a.m.]. So that is into play starting tonight.”

Kelly also ordered a weeklong standdown for Yokosuka-based sailors for training in preventing violence.

Carrier George Washington departs Norfolk for Japan

The carrier George Washington departed Norfolk Naval Station amid scattered rain and dense fog Monday morning, en route to its new home port of Yokosuka, Japan.

A Navy band gave the hundreds of sailors manning the rails a spirited sendoff. The ship is making history as the first nuclear-powered carrier based in the only nation ever to be attacked by nuclear weapons.

The ship will replace the Kitty Hawk, the Navy’s last conventionally powered carrier, which is due to be decommissioned. Without the Kitty Hawk’s need for constant refueling, the George Washington can cover greater distances through the region at higher speeds.

It also will be on higher alert once it arrives in Japan as part of the Navy’s new maritime strategy. Technically, the ship could arrive one day and deploy the next.

Navy ships deploy to North Atlantic for warfare exercise

Four Navy ships are headed to the North Atlantic to participate in a warfare exercise with navies from nine other countries.

The guided missile destroyers Donald Cook and Barry, the guided missile cruiser Anzio and the fleet replenishment oiler Big Horn will be joined later this week by the frigates Nicholas and Taylor, according to a Navy news release. The Taylor’s home port is Mayport, Fla.

The multi-warfare exercise will improve “interoperability between allied navies” and provide an opportunity for ships to be certified for upcoming deployments, the release says.

Indo-German naval exercises to begin today

A three-day Indo-German joint naval exercise will begin on Tuesday, on the country’s western coast.

The two countries had signed a defence cooperation agreement in 2006.

From the German side, the exercises will see the participation of over 700 personnel from the German Task Force comprising the Federal German Ship (FGS) Hamburg, an air-defence ship; frigate FGS Koeln; and replenishment tanker FGS Berlin. The vessels arrived at Kochi on Saturday.

Two frigates of the Indian Navy, apart from a helicopter and training ships — INS Tir and INS Krishna — will represent India in the exercises.

Addressing mediapersons on board FGS Hamburg here on Monday, the Task Force Commander, Captain Michael Budde, said the German and Indian warships from the Naval Base here would jointly leave Kochi harbour on Tuesday for the joint exercises.

“Seamanship, replenishment at sea and exchange of ships’ personnel and flying exercises will be held in the sea off Kochi. More advanced manoeuvres like surface and submarine warfare will be held further northwards, where the Indian frigates from the Western Naval Command will join.”

Coast Guard cutter officer relieved of command

The U.S. Coast Guard has temporarily dismissed the commanding officer of the Cutter Mobile Bay at Sturgeon Bay.

The Coast Guard says Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Smith was relieved of his command after he was found to lack leadership.

Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer Robert Lanier says such moves are rare and are typically made because of alleged misconduct or a specific incident. Lanier says that’s not the case here. He says Smith is not under investigation.

Mobile Bay is a 140-foot icebreaking tug.

Russia to create aircraft carrier groups

Russia plans to have a fleet of five or six aircraft carrier joint task groups by 2060, the commander of its navy said Friday.

Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said that the navy is shifting strategy, the Novosti news agency reported. Russia currently has only one carrier.

“We should not separately build combat ships, aircraft or spacecraft — everything must work as an integrated system,” Vysotsky said at a Moscow news conference. “This applies to aircraft carriers as well. We are planning to build five or six naval aircraft carrier groups.”

US sailor handed to prosecutors over Japanese cabbie murder

Japanese police handed a US sailor to prosecutors on Saturday over the murder of a taxi driver in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, a local police spokesman said.

Yokosuka Police Department transferred the suspect, Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 22-year-old Nigerian national, to the Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office for indictment procedures, said the spokesman, who declined to be named.

The suspect was arrested on Thursday over the killing of taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi last month, the latest in a series of alleged crimes involving the US military that have sparked anger in local communities here.

The sailor has admitted stabbing the 61-year-old taxi driver near Yokosuka, the biggest US naval base in Japan, but says he did not intend to kill him, his lawyer said Friday.

Pentagon to phase out SSNs on ID cards

Social Security numbers will disappear from the ID cards of military family members by the end of the year, temporarily replaced by the Social Security number of the military sponsor in a half-step toward better identity-theft protection, defense officials said Thursday.

In 2009, the Defense Department will take the next step of phasing out full Social Security numbers on all ID cards for service members and civilians, replaced by just the last four digits. Using those digits, combined with other identifying information, is a common practice in the private sector.

New cards will be issued as old cards expire, defense officials said.

U.S. sailor arrested for murder of taxi driver denies robbery, murderous intent

A U.S. sailor arrested Thursday for murdering a taxi driver here last month denies that he attacked the victim with murderous intent, his lawyer said.

Moreover, the suspect, Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 22-year-old Nigerian national, also denies the charge of robbery, saying that he fully intended to pay his taxi fare of about 17,000 yen, according to lawyer Yasutoshi Murakami, who has been hired by the U.S. Navy.

Dutch frigate sent to Somalia coast

The Dutch Parliament has approved the deployment of the Dutch naval frigate Evertsen to the waters off the coast of Somalia.

The vessel, which will remain in the region for three months, will protect ships carrying United Nations food supplies. The ships are often plundered by pirates. As a result of the fighting in Somalia two million people there are dependent on food aid. The frigate will also pick up Somali refugees attempting to flee the country by sea.

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen announced that the refugees would not be able to apply for asylum in the Netherlands.

The Mapp Report – A One Frigate Navy

Over the last few months I have been told by many people that one of the two frigates, Te Kaha, had effectively been placed in reserve, useful for only short patrols in the Hauraki Gulf.

Recent Parliamentary questions seem to show there is some truth in this. As a rule, our frigates spend 150 to 160 days per year at sea. This usually involves an extensive international operation into the North Pacific or the Gulf. In fact, Te Mana is about to be deployed to the Gulf as part of multilateral operations against terrorism.

However, over the last 18 months the Defence Force has been operating Te Kaha on a minimal basis. In 2007 it spent 79 days at sea; not even one day in four. This year it is expected to spend 97 days at sea. Its readiness is now 24 hours to sail, instead of the usual 12 hours. Many of the allocated crew are apparently undertaking shore courses. Several exercises this year have already been ‘affected’, that is largely not undertaken. What this adds up to is a one frigate Navy, with one in reserve.

USS Nimitz strike group in Hong Kong

The USS Nimitz strike group arrived Thursday in Hong Kong on a port call, a U.S. Consulate General spokesman said.

The USS Nimitz strike group arrived in Hong Kong with 7,000 sailors and is scheduled to stay for “a couple of days,” U.S. Consulate General spokesman Dale Kreisher said.

The group of ships includes the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and the naval ships the USS Princeton, the USS Chafee, the USS Higgins and the USS John Paul Jones.

Kreisher declined to say exactly how long the ships will stay because of security reasons.

The Nimitz arrived in Hong Kong after the Kitty Hawk battle group tried to make a long-scheduled visit to Hong Kong last Thanksgiving, but was told upon arrival that officials there had not received notification from Beijing to grant access.

Japan police arrest U.S. sailor for murder

Japanese police arrested on Thursday a U.S. sailor on suspicion of murdering and robbing a taxi driver last month, the latest case of crime linked to U.S. bases in the country.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer (R) meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura in Tokyo April 3, 2008. Japanese police arrested on Thursday a U.S. sailor on suspicion of murdering and robbing a taxi driver last month, the latest case of crime linked to U.S. bases in the country.

Japan’s top government spokesman, however, said the bilateral alliance would not be affected by such cases.

Nearly 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan under the U.S.-Japan security alliance, a pillar of Tokyo’s diplomacy, but friction with local communities often occurs because of concern about crime, accidents and noise.

Police in Kanagawa, near Tokyo, identified the arrested sailor as 22-year-old Olatunbosun Ugbogu.

Ugbogu, who is Nigerian, had been in U.S. military custody on a charge of desertion and was handed over to Japanese police by agreement with U.S. authorities. A small percentage of U.S. military personnel is made up of non-U.S. citizens.

Japan killing prompts crackdown at U.S. Navy base

The U.S. Navy said Wednesday it has imposed limits on travel and alcohol consumption for personnel at its base near Tokyo following the killing of a Japanese taxi driver.

The limits would take effect immediately, said Cmdr. David Waterman, a Navy spokesman.

No alcohol will be sold due to “a period of heightened sensitivity” over the stabbing of a 61-year-old Japanese taxi driver last month in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo and home to the U.S. naval base, Waterman said. Off-base travel and activities will be limited, he said.

The announcement came hours after Japanese authorities questioned a U.S. sailor over his suspected role in the killing of taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi.

The sailor, a 22-year-old crew member of the Yokosuka-based ship USS Cowpens, has been in U.S. custody since he was apprehended on a desertion charge earlier this month in Tokyo.

Navy Seeks to Revive Troubled Ship Program

The Navy is moving forward with construction of a new type of smaller, speedy warship after upending the program by canceling contracts last year, officials said Wednesday.

The Navy’s formal requests for proposals issued to General Dynamics Corp.’s Bath Iron Works and Lockheed Martin Corp. on Tuesday call for construction of three Littoral combat ships to be carried out over the next several years.

The Navy envisions a competition in which the winning bidder is awarded contracts for two of the ships while the other gets to build just one ship, Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Schofield said Wednesday.

The Navy, which hopes to build 55 Littoral combat ships, wants the smaller warships capable of operating in shallow, coastal waters to meet threats including modern-day pirates and terrorists. The ships are a key element of the Navy’s goal of increasing the size of its fleet to 313 ships.

“The Navy, as it exists today, was designed mostly for fighting in the middle of the big blue ocean. The Littoral combat ship is designed to take the fight right up to the enemy’s coastline, and into the country if necessary,” said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute.

He described the program as the most significant Navy shipbuilding program over the last decade: “It is the one thing that the Navy is doing that is directly responsive to how the threats have changed.”

Libya to join NATO-led naval maneuvers

Libyan ships will join those of 11 other nations in naval exercises with the US Sixth Fleet this month as part of joint efforts to enhance security in the Mediterranean, the Greek Navy says. The operation will link the United States and other NATO nations in exercises with the states of the so-called “Mediterranean Dialogue,” an enterprise thought up 14 years ago to combine forces to fight terrorism but never yet properly implemented. In addition to the United States and Libya, countries participating in the April 8-22 maneuvers will include France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Greece, Malta, Tunisia, and Mauritania.