MSDF

MSDF names female destroyer captains for first time
Maritime Self-Defense Force warships used in training exercises, in April 2010 in Aomori Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
March 18, 2013
The Maritime Self-Defense Force has named its first female skippers for destroyers used in training exercises.
Coast guard to deploy retired MSDF ships to counter ...
Japan Coast Guard cutters keep a close watch on Chinese surveillance ships near the Senkaku Islands in September 2012. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
March 05, 2013
In a move that is bound to anger Beijing, the Japan Coast Guard is planning to use soon-to-be-mothballed Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers to bolster patrols around the...
China says probing Japan complaint about radar...
Chinese naval ships take part in an exercise in the Western Pacific Ocean on Dec. 7, 2012. The ships passed the contiguous zone around Japan’s southwestern islands to enter the East China Sea. (CFP)
February 07, 2013
BEIJING--China's Foreign Ministry said on Feb. 7 the government was investigating a complaint from Japan that a Chinese navy vessel aimed a type of radar normally used to aim...
EDITORIAL: China’s provocative acts are raising...
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Yudachi, shown at port in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, in April 2012, was targeted by fire-control radar from a Chinese warship in the East China Sea on Jan. 30 this year. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
February 07, 2013
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera revealed Feb. 5 that a Chinese warship locked its fire-control radar on a Japanese destroyer operating in the East China Sea last month. In...
UPDATE: Japan protests to China after radar pointed ...
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera meets reporters on Feb. 5. (The Asahi Shimbun)
February 05, 2013
A Chinese navy vessel directed a type of radar normally used to aim weapons at a target at a Maritime Self-Defense Force ship in the East China Sea, prompting Japan to protest, ...
LOOSE LIPS (1): MSDF member tweets about N. Korea...
A tweet by a member of the Maritime Self-Defense Force says that he will be off to Hiroshima the day after tomorrow. Shown in the backdrop is an MSDF escort vessel in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. Some parts of the photo have been altered. (Shiro Nishihata)
January 07, 2013
Editor’s note: Yasuyuki Sasaki, a staff writer in the city news department of The Asahi Shimbun, interviewed an officer at the Maritime Self-Defense Force about tweets that...
Prime Minister Noda: Japan security environment...
Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, center, and Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto inspect the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) fleet review from aboard the destroyer Kurama on Oct. 14. (The Asahi Shimbun)
October 14, 2012
YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa Prefecture--Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told his navy on Oct. 14 that Japan's security environment was tougher than ever, underscoring tension with China...
EDITORIAL: MSDF’s suicide document cover-up...
July 17, 2012
The Maritime Self-Defense Force has discovered a document about an MSDF member’s suicide in 2004 that it previously said had been “destroyed.”
6 Chinese warships spotted in waters off Okinawa
A Luzhou-class missile destroyer of the Chinese Navy moves through waters off Okinawa Prefecture. (Provided by the Defense Ministry)
November 24, 2011
Six Chinese warships apparently headed for exercises in the Pacific Ocean were spotted in international waters about 100 kilometers northeast of Miyakojima island in Okinawa...
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