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LEAD: U.S. likely to deploy nuclear aircraft carrier in Yokosuka
Japan Policy & Politics, April 5, 2004
WASHINGTON, March 31 Kyodo
(EDS: ADDING INFO)
The commander of the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii indicated Wednesday that the Kitty Hawk, a conventionally powered aircraft carrier deployed at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, will be replaced by an advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier around 2008.
''We would hope to replace her with one of our most capable aircraft carriers,'' Adm. Thomas Fargo said in congressional testimony.
''This is...a subject that we'll talk to the Japanese about and collaborate with them and work through as we do with all issues with a very strong alliance partner,'' Fargo told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
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The 80,800-ton Kitty Hawk, the Navy's oldest active aircraft carrier, is scheduled to be replaced around 2008, he said.
The possible deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Yokosuka is expected to draw strong objection from local residents and antinuclear groups.
Fargo said he hopes Japan will understand the importance of the deployment of such a vessel for regional stability.
''Of course, Japan has been a great host to the 7th Fleet over many, many years, and their support has been absolutely critical to our security in East Asia and the Western Pacific,'' he said.
The Kitty Hawk, commissioned in 1961, has been based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, as the successor to the Independence, since July 1998.
It was dispatched to the Indian Ocean in 2001 to join the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and to the Persian Gulf in 2003 to participate in the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
There have been virtually no conventionally powered U.S. aircraft carriers that can replace the Kitty Hawk.
Among such aircraft carriers, the Constellation was decommissioned in 2003. The remaining John F. Kennedy has already been in the reserves.
In a written statement submitted to the House committee, meanwhile, Fargo urged Japan to promptly implement a 1996 bilateral accord on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
''We continue to emphasize to the government of Japan that a complete replacement facility as identified in the SACO final report -- not just the offshore portion -- is required before Futemma can be fully returned,'' he said.
A report, adopted in 1996 by the Japan-U.S. Special Action Committee on Okinawa, calls for returning the Futemma base site in Ginowan, central Okinawa, within five to seven years, after ''adequate replacement facilities are completed and operational'' within Okinawa.
Japan decided in 2002 to build a military-civilian airport on reclaimed land off the northern Okinawa city of Nago to relocate the heliport function of the Futemma base.
But its construction has not even started eight years after the accord.
The Okinawa government has demanded a 15-year use limit as a condition for its acceptance of the relocation plan by the Japanese government. The U.S. has rejected the demand.
Fargo also said the U.S. Pacific Command wants to strengthen relations with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.
''Although our deepest ties lie with the Maritime and Air Self-Defense forces -- mainly due to the day-to-day presence of the 7th Fleet and the 5th Air Force, we are also looking for ways to increase interactions with the Ground Self-Defense Force,'' he said.
Fargo praised Japan's dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq for reconstruction and humanitarian assistance.
''The most significant symbol of Japan's commitment to regional and global security was its December 2003 decision to contribute up to 1,000 Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel for Iraq -- a plan they are now implementing,'' he said.
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