Secretary of the Navy Dr. Donald C. Winter stepped off the USS Shiloh at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japa, Tuesday and answered reporters’ questions about the ship’s war-fighting capabilitites. (Allison Batdorff / S&S)
Secretary of the Navy Dr. Donald C. Winter stepped off the USS Shiloh at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japa, Tuesday and answered reporters’ questions about the ship’s war-fighting capabilitites. (Allison Batdorff / S&S)
The USS Shiloh arrives at Yokosuka Naval Base on Tuesday morning to replace the USS Chancellorsville. (Allison Batdorff / S&S)
Rear Adm. Jamie Kelly, Commander, Naval Forces Japan, welcomes Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter to Yokosuka Naval Base on Tuesday. (Adam York / Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Navy laid on the fanfare Tuesday to welcome the USS Shiloh to its new home here. But to the Japanese, the warship may be among the more welcome additions to the hardware the U.S. military parks among their islands.
The Shiloh can track and intercept ballistic missiles — a hot-button issue in Japan after North Korea’s missile tests this summer.
None of missiles touched Japanese territory this July or during Pyongyang’s last round of testing in 1998. But if a missile came now, officials said Tuesday, the USS Shiloh’s Aegis-equipped electronics and Standard Missile-3 interceptors give the ship the cability to track and shoot it down.
“This ship has the most advanced ballistic-missile-defense system afloat today,” said U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter. “The ship has tremendous multimission capabilities.”
The Shiloh, a guided-missile cruiser carrying a crew of 370, will replace the USS Chancellorsville as part of a routine rotation in the Forward Deployed Naval Forces based in Yokosuka.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Joe Donovan also was among the U.S. and Japanese officials who attended the arrival ceremony. He said the Shiloh’s presence tightens the cooperative ties between the U.S. and Japan, especially in terms of ballistic missile defense.
The two nations “must work together to defend our peoples,” Donovan said, calling naval ability to counter ballistic missiles “a major engine” in this.
The Shiloh “complements” other shared moves for missile defense, he said, such as the U.S. installation of X-Band radar at the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force’s Shariki base in northern Japan and U.S. plans to send a “battalion” of PAC-3 airborne missile interceptors to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. The United States and Japan also have worked jointly since 1999 to develop and upgrade SM3 missiles, he said.
Japanese news reports have stated that Japan is building up its own PAC-3 arsenal due to North Korea’s recent missile tests. Several officials mentioned North Korea at the Shiloh’s arrival ceremony Tuesday, which featured a taiko performance, military music and speakers.
“Uncertainties remain in this region,” said Chikao Kawai, director general for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ North American Bureau. “Just two months ago, we were reminded of the security environment we are forced to live in.”
The Navy plans to outfit more ships with the ability to do long-range surveillance and tracking and to launch SM-3 missiles, said Chris Taylor, Missile Defense Agency spokesman. The Shiloh is one of three cruisers with that capacity now; three destroyers are to be upgraded this year, including the USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Stethem, both from Yokosuka. By 2009, 18 U.S. warships are to be equipped to provide missile defense, Taylor said.
