The commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), Vice Admiral Peter Hudson, welcomed Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) Chief of Staff Admiral Tomohisa Takei and his staff to MARCOM headquarters recently.
The officials gathered for a briefing on NATO operations and discuss opportunities for further cooperation between NATO’s maritime forces and the JMSDF.
The two partners have previously cooperated within the framework of NATO’s counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin. The JMSDF destroyer JS TAKANAMI and the NATO Task Force 508 flagship HDMS ESBERN SNARE met twice at sea in September and November 2014 to conduct exercises focused on the skill sets required for counter piracy operations. Areas tested included communications interoperability, such as tactical data links, satellite communications, voice communications and visual signalling, as well as live firing gunnery operations and tactical boarding team operations, conducting a comprehensive search of a vessel while maintaining security of the crew and ship.
Admiral Takei’s visit to MARCOM featured a working lunch with Vice Admiral Hudson, followed by a tour of NATO’s Maritime Operations Centre (MOC), the nerve centre of Allied maritime operations, and a briefing on NATO operations.
Admiral Takei has served in the JMSDF since his commissioning in 1980 and was previously assigned as Commandant of the Yokosuka District.
An Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme (IPCP) between Japan and NATO was agreed to in May 2014.
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Image: MARCOM