New Memorandum Allows JMSDF Transit through NMC Maebata

SASEBO, Japan -- A memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Navy Munitions Command East Asia Division Detachment Sasebo and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force – Ammunition Maintenance Facility was signed in Sasebo Mar. 8, 2017. The memorandum concerned JMSDF moving their munitions through the NMC Maebata Ordnance Facility at Commander, U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo.

NMC Det. Sasebo Officer in Charge Lt. Cmdr. Scot Haven and JMSDF-AMF Commanding Officer Capt. Harunobu Kinoshita signed the MOU, which has been in the works since July 2016.

"The Memorandum of Understanding has helped strengthen the bond of friendship and mutual-cooperation and builds a stronger US-Japan alliance," said Haven.

The MOU came about to establish a long-lasting understanding of the policies and procedures for transporting ordnance through Maebata to the JMSDF-AMF Sakibe Ordnance Facility, said Haven. Maebata is adjacent to Sakibe, which is at the tip of a peninsula that can only be reached via the Maebata road or a longer public road through Sasebo City.

As an active ordnance storage facility, Maebata has many safety regulations which place limitations on the traffic that is allowed to transit the facility. The memorandum will allow JMSDF to move ordnance during off-hours, when NMC is not handling ordnance and therefore will not impact U.S. operations.

Maebata is one of several ordnance facilities onboard CFAS, which collectively can hold almost a third of the U.S. munitions in the western Pacific.