Report from Hamamatsu, Japan,
on AWACS and PAC-3
1.
Ten
Years Since the Array of AWACS
In 1998 and 1999, four AWACS, Airborne Warning
and Control System, were arrayed at the Hamamatsu Air Base of the Japan Air
Self Defense Force, the JASDF. Ten years
later, in May 2008, PAC-3, Patriot Advanced Capability, was arrayed at the Hamamatsu
Air Base.
We are going to take a look at the military
movement in Hamamatsu
in these ten years. In 1999, together
with the array of AWACS, the Exhibition
“Museum” of the JASDF was constructed at the
Hamamatsu Air Base, and the aerial acrobatics by Blue Impulse, (which were
discontinued after its crash in 1982), was resumed. In 2000, AWACS was used in the Japan-America
United Exercise, and was dispatched exercises in Alaska.
It was also used to watch the Korean
Peninsula, the World Cup, and the Summit in Toyako.
After the Iraq War broke out in 2003, the Japanese
government dispatched the JSDF there. The
C-130 at the Komaki Air Base was painted blue at the Hamamatsu Air Base to make
it difficult to be seen in the Iraqi air.
Troops were dispatched to Iraq 33 times from the Hamamatsu Air
Base; the total number was 122. One of
the troops who had returned from Iraq committed suicide because of the
harassment within the troops, and the bereaved brought a lawsuit against the JSDF
in 2008.
Thus, Hamamatsu
has become the Japanese stronghold for dispatching troops. At the same time, however, there have been movements
for recovering human rights.
As well as the anti-war movement, investigations
have been made on the war-time bombings of Asian countries, war-time poison gas
training in Hamamatsu, and the war-time historic
sites in Hamamatsu. There has been a new discovery about the
bombings. For example, the Japan Army
School had researched on
bombing with poison gas in Chichiharu, and its research and training were
directly used in the real battle; even now its abandoned bombs are causing harm
on humans there.
Recently the United States has been ruling over
space and urging the global war. It is
the missile defense system and PAC-3 that support “the preemptive attack.” PAC-3 was secretly arrayed in the Hamamatsu Air
Base in May, 2008. It was after the
array that the official announcement was made to citizens. In the Hamamatsu Air Base there are anti-aircraft
artillery training teams, AAA, and maintenance teams, so the arrayed PAC-3 is
for training and maintenance. In
September of last year, PAC-3 from the Hamamatsu Air Base was used for a test
launching in the White-Sons Launching Site in New Mexico.
Some citizens’ groups in the Tokai Region (Nagoya, Gifu, Mie, and Hamamatsu) formed a
network against the array of PAC-3 in February, 2009. In the middle of the night in late Feb. 2009,
PAC-3 was secretly arrayed from Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, the company that is licensed
to produce PAC-3, to Gifu Base, guarded by 300 policemen. In late March, 2009, the Japanese Government
announced preemptive destruction order of the “satellite” launched from North
Korea, and PAC-3 from the Hamamatsu Air Base was arrayed for this in the Tohoku
region in the north part of Japan.
In a real battle, PAC-3 is used under the
united-command of Japan and
the US
which rules the space. Such usage of
PAC-3 is in violation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution which prohibits
collective defense and warfare. It is
true that the real target of PAC-3 is Article 9. We are living in such a dangerous
situation. However, to change our time from
out of global war to out of global peace, we would like to learn from history
and pursue such movements as to prevent Hamamatsu
from becoming a military stronghold ever again.
2. The
Movement of PAC-3 in Hamamatsu Air Base
after the Invocation
of MD in 2009
The Aso Administration announced “preventative
destruction order” on March 27 in reaction to the launching of a ‘satellite’ by
Korea. It was to array the MD unit for ‘interception’,
which meant the destruction of the pacifism of the Japanese Constitution by the
Japanese government.
On March 19, Hamamatsu Air Base announced notification
of the passing of PAC-3 related vehicles to Iwate, Akita,
and Hamamatsu City.
Akita Prefecture received the announcement on
23rd, and on 26th the paper reported, ‘it was for
training the unit.’ PAC-3 was carried
out from the Hamamatsu Air Base at 7:00 a.m.
A convoy, whose members were in camouflage fatigues, came out of its
north gate, protected by police. Four
units with 50 vehicles headed for the Shimizu Port
by way of the Tomei Highway,
and sailed for Tohoku on a ferry named Daiichi-Ariake-maru which belonged to a
private company. We had a protest against it at Hamamatsu Air
Base. We also went to city hall on the 30th
to request that Mayor also oppose this movement.
On March 26th, one day before the
preventative destruction order, a small jet flew to the Hamamatsu Air Base with
some senior members of the JSDF. They
may have come to Hamamatsu
to prepare for arraying PAC-3. This
means they had prepared for arraying PAC-3 before the preventative destruction
order.
AWACS, incorporated in the MD system,
repeated watching on the Korean
Peninsula. The main strategy of contemporary global war is
hegemony of space, the preventative first strikes, missile defense,
intelligence war, and creating wartime in peacetime. The recent movements have shown the same objectives:
based on the information from US satellites, the Japanese government formed the
united operational headquarters with the US, invoked MD, operated an intelligence
war in the name of ‘missile’ defense, and created wartime in peacetime.
Stirring ‘the missile crisis’, the Aso
administration invoked MD. This shows
the fragile nature of the Aso administration which easily responds to
crisis. The Defense Ministry made a
blunder of issuing false information of the North Korean ‘launching’. In the metropolitan area PAC-3 was arrayed to
guard mainly the Defense Ministry. These
facts show that MD is useless, and that PAC-3 is for guarding not citizens but
military strongholds like Ichigaya, Asaka, and Narashino, and that the PAC-3
arrayed in the Tohoku region was only a varnish.
There is a mystery. When PAC-3 was arrayed at the Hamamatsu Air
Base, the JSDF explained it was only for training, and that they would not
array the warhead. Where did the warhead
of PAC-3 come from that was arrayed in Tohoku region?
Human Rights and Peace, Hamamatsu
Hamamatsu PO Box 77,
Asahi-machi, Naka-ku、Hamamatsu City
T/F: JAPAN 053-422-4810