November 9, 2024

The U.S. Navy has begun recruiting Japanese shipbuilders to undertake the maintenance of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier deployed at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Many peace activists have voiced concern that “Japanese companies will be forced to cooperate in U.S. war preparations.”

The U.S. military is anticipating the cooperation under Japan-U.S. Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition, and Sustainment (DICAS), which includes the maintenance of U.S. military vessels at Japanese shipyards.

The name of the carrier is not specified this time, but the two governments in the DICAS meeting are reportedly considering plans to have U.S. military vessels deployed on the U.S. mainland to also be maintained by Japanese shipbuilders. In addition to the USS George Washington which will be deployed to the Yokosuka base, other aircraft carriers deployed from the U.S. mainland to waters surrounding Japan may also be turned over to Japanese contractors for maintenance.

Niikura Yasuo, the secretary general of a local group working to prevent Yokosuka from becoming a home port for U.S. military ships, said “It has been half a century since the USS Midway was deployed to Yokosuka in 1973.”

Niikura recalls that the Japanese government initially explained that Yokosuka would not become a “home port” of U.S. vessels and that families of U.S. personnel would live in the Yokosuka area for a period of approximately three years. It also explained that no nuclear-powered vessels would be repaired in Japanese ports, according to Niikura.

He said, “Under the national security-related legislation, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are preparing to support U.S. carrier strike groups, including the Yokosuka-based U.S. Aegis ship, and now private contractors are to be forced to cooperate in repairs of U.S. aircraft carriers. We will continue our fight to stop Yokosuka from becoming a U.S. aircraft carrier port.”