According to Kyodo News, the 7,250-ton Kirishima of the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) left its home base in Yokosuka,Kanagawa Prefecture, in line with the government's special anti-terrorism law enacted last year.

The destroyer, with a crew of about 250, is scheduled to pass the Strait of Malacca and arrive in the Indian Ocean in around three weeks to replace the Hiei, one of the three MSDF vessels currently deployed in the area.

The two others are the Harusame, a destroyer, and the Tokiwa, afuel replenishment ship.

The Kirishima will basically be used to provide security for the MSDF's refueling of US and British ships in the Arabian Sea inthe northern part of the Indian Ocean, Kyodo said.

The Kirishima is equipped with the Aegis system with air-defense radar covering a radius of some 500 kilometers and high-speed information processing.

But Japan's Defense Agency officials said the country will not share with the US military any information which would directly lead to the use of force and it will carry out its own confirmation of information provided by the United States, Kyodo added.

Japan started providing logistic support for the Afghanistan operations a year ago by sending MSDF vessels to the area.

The support, launched after the United States began bombing Afghanistan in retaliation for last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was extended earlier this year for half a year, and then again for another six months on Nov. 19.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2002)