U.S. Eyes Naval Vessel Repairs in Japan

   Washington, March 21 (Jiji Press)--The U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday that a delegation led by a senior Pentagon official has visited the Indo-Pacific region to discuss the establishment of a network for maintenance and repairs of defense equipment with senior government officials from Japan and other countries in the region.
   In preparation for a possible contingency in Taiwan, the delegation may have discussed an idea, recently emerged in the United States, to repair U.S. naval vessels in Japan and other countries, people familiar with the matter said.
   According to a statement released by the department, Christopher Lowman, assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, and Lt. Gen. Leo Kosinski, joint staff director for logistics, led the delegation of senior logisticians from each U.S. Military Service headquarters and other organizations. They visited Japan, Australia and the Philippines from March 10 to Wednesday.
   "Focusing on opportunities to strengthen ties with allies and partners, increase sustainment capacity and further build defense industrial base resilience, the delegation met with U.S. military and national government representatives from Australia, Japan, and the Philippines," the statement said.
   "Lowman and delegation members stressed the importance of increasing regional capacity for the sustainment of coalition forces in the region, to include establishing a network of regionally aligned maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities in coordination with national and U.S. commercial industry partners," it said.

(2024/03/22-18:58)

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