Japan might ask the U.S. military to watch over its Air Self-Defense Force planes when they use Baghdad International Airport.
Some government and ruling coalition officials are suggesting that Japan should deploy ASDF planes to Iraq before dispatching its ground troops due to security concerns, government sources said Wednesday. Japan would like U.S. military helicopters to patrol the area around the airport, they said.
Under the plan being considered, Japan will deploy three of the ASDF's C-130 transport planes to carry support materials for the U.S. military mainly from Kuwait to the Baghdad airport, located about 500 km north.
The U.S. has maintained air control over and around the Baghdad airport since the end of the war on Iraq.
But Tokyo believes it is essential to secure the safety of the ASDF planes in the approach to and departure from the airport, the sources said. U.S. military helicopters and civilian cargo aircraft have recently become targets of ground-to-air missile attacks.
U.S. military helicopters currently patrol the area around the airport before landings by American airplanes.
If the U.S. helicopters detect signs of missile or rocket attacks from the ground, the ASDF planes may return to Kuwait or countries neighboring Iraq, they said.
The ASDF is also considering installing a system on the C-130 planes to fire flares to deflect infrared homing missiles, and covering the lower part of the planes' cockpit with bulletproof boards, the sources said.
Besides airlifting materials for the U.S. military, Japan plans to use the C-130 planes to transport goods to Ground Self-Defense Force troops that Tokyo expects to deploy in the southern Iraq town of Samawah. For such missions, it would use a local airport several kilometers from the town, they said.