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| Image: Flickr User - Naval Surface Warriors |
161103-N-GP548-007 PHILIPPINE SEA (Nov. 3, 2016) Vice Admiral Yutaka Murakawa, Vice Chief of Staff, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF), discusses a ship formation with distinguished visitors on the bridge of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during the joint-bilateral exercise Keen Sword 17 (KS17). >>
Admiral Murakawa was appointed today as the 33rd Chief of Staff of the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF). He took over the duty of the JMSDF Chief of Staff from Admiral Takei.
Amidral Murakawa said in a statement:
The JMSDF marks 65th anniversary of the establishment soon. During that period, we have actively engaged in eatablishing stable maritime security as well as defending our country. Those activities in recent years include patrolling the increasingly severe seas around Japan, conducting counter-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia for the past 7 years, and coping with frequent natural disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto earthquakes, which the people of Japan have higher expectations for our missions. Additionally, we have engaged in an increasing number of long-term intense missions and missions which require us to carry out expeditiously.
In particular, situations of grey area which can refer to neither peace time nor contingency over territory, sovereignty, and economic interests, are expanding both geographically and temporally, and cannot be solved even though they can bring about serious crisis.
Read the full story at Navy Recognition