Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) and the Japan Coast Guard started a joint antipiracy exercise Friday in Hiroshima Prefecture to prepare for a mission off the Somalia to protect Japan-linked ships from pirates.
The exercise was conducted at the MSDF's Kure base in Hiroshima, involving one MSDF destroyer and two coast guard vessels with about 200 defense personnel and more than 50 coast guard officials aboard, Xinhua reported.
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 Self-Defense Forces Law.
Japan is expected to send the destroyers to the Gulf of Aden late March at the earliest when a dispatch order is issued.
...