http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49306
A model missile defense team
By Hana Kusumoto and Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, October 7, 2007
[Figure caption:] Capt. Will Hunter, second from the right, talks to
Lt. Col. Masaru Ohta, the head of the Japanese 21st Air Defense
Missile Squadron at Shariki, Japan. The American's missile radar unit
abuts the Japanese air base, which houses four Patriot missiles. Teri
Weaver / S&S
The United States and Japan have worked together on ballistic missile
defense systems for more than a decade.
Three years after the relationship started with joint research in
1995, North Korea launched a missile over Japan. Several more were
fired in July 2006, splashing into the sea between the two countries.
Japanese military experts say North Korea's actions and proximity have
spurred Japan's investment in missile defense. At the same time, the
U.S. military sees Japan as a model for similar relationships around
the world.
"Our partnership with the government of Japan has proven to be a model
of cooperation," the U.S. Missile Defense Agency wrote in its budget
overview for fiscal year 2008.
According to the MDA, the United States is working with Poland and the
Czech Republic about the possibility of putting missile defenses in
their countries. Already, the U.S. has air defenses in the United
Kingdom, Japan, Okinawa and South Korea.
Japan participates in ways beyond providing sites for U.S.-run
systems.
The Japanese defense force regularly sends groups to the U.S. to train
with Army air defense troops. And the country has set up 24 of its own
Patriot missile units around the country, according to Lt. Col. Masaru
Ohta, commander of the 21st Air Defense Missile Squadron in Shariki,
Japan.
[snip]
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http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49305
Radar systems monitor 'rogue regimes'
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, October 7, 2007
The AN/TPY-2 radar system at the Shariki Communications Site is part
of an early-warning detection network around the globe - in Alaska,
California, the United Kingdom, the Marshall Islands and aboard U.S.
Navy ships.
The system, which uses the so-called X-band radar, is a response to
growing concern that 25 countries, including Iran and North Korea,
have active offensive ballistic missile programs.
"The actions of North Korea and Iran this past year demonstrate the
determination of these rogue regimes to achieve this capability and,
potentially, weapons of mass destruction to further aggressive ends,"
Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, head of the Missile Defense
Agency, told Congress in March. "We expect to be surprised by
unexpected and more robust threats."
Shariki's radar sits on the edge of the communications site. It
appears almost understated, painted a shade darker than the obligatory
beige that covers so many Army bases.
The AN/TPY-2 is a three-part device that looks and sounds like three
industrial-sized generators running at full speed. Each part serves
respectively as the system's heart, brains and face, said Capt. Will
Hunter, the Army commander at Shariki. It's the face, a smooth slab
pointing due west through a small gap of trees, that tracks enemy
missile launches.
The face's radio frequencies beam out like a fan to track rising
missiles. If needed, the system could read the entire horizon. But to
strengthen its efficacy, and to conserve power, it searches targeted
sections of the sky, Hunter says.
When asked if the radar tracked North Korea's launches last July,
Hunter pauses.
"We received some data last summer," he says.
On July 4, 2006, North Korea launched short-, medium- and long-range
missiles into sea between it and Japan. Late last year and early this
year, Iran also conducted several short- and medium-range ballistic
missile and rocket launches.
All told, foreign countries launched about 100 ballistic missiles,
Obering told Congress. As of March 2007, the pace of these launches
was about twice that of 2006, according to his written statement.
At Shariki, Hunter and others know when something is in the sky. But
they aren't necessarily the first to know. As Shariki's radar tracks
missiles, data transfers instantly to round-the-clock watchers in
Tokyo, Colorado, Hawaii and elsewhere, Hunter says.
"It operates at echelons way above Capt. Hunter," he says. "By the
time they've called me and got me out of bed, the people who are
actually running the fight at that level would already know what's
going on and probably already be planning their responses. I'm more of
just a caretaker of a system."
==========================
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49304
Two soldiers sent to 'battle space' in remote Japan
Pair's mission is to track missiles
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, October 7, 2007
[Figure caption:] Capt. Will Hunter is commander at the Shariki
Communications Site, a two-person unit that oversees security and
maintenance of an X-band radar system. The X-band radar tracks the
ascending trajectory of rising missiles in the sky. Hunter looks out
from the radar's face westward toward the Sea of Japan. "I like it out
here," Hunter said. "I like the peace and quiet." Teri Weaver / S&S
[Figure caption:] First Sgt. Ben Williams, left, and Capt. Will
Hunter, at work in their office at Shariki Communications Site. The
base is on a secluded bluff above the Sea of Japan. The two
servicemembers and the 100 or so contractors who work at the site are
still in temporary offices after more than a year in operation. Future
plans include adding a permanent building to the site and bringing on
one more soldier to the unit. Teri Weaver / S&S
[Figure caption:] The village of Shariki sits at the northern edge of
the Tsugaru plain, a flat of rice fields that separates the sea and
the cities of Goshogawara and Tsugara. Last fall, the U.S. Army stood
up the Forward-Based X-Band Radar Transportable unit, which is
detached from the 1st Space Brigade in Colorado and attached to the
94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Hawaii. The unit in
Shariki includes two soldiers and about 100 contractors who secure and
maintain a system that tracks rising enemy missiles from the west.
Teri Weaver / S&S
Editor's note: A year ago, with little fanfare, the U.S. military set
up a missile tracking station in Japan. Today the base is manned by
two soldiers and dozens of contracted technical and support personnel.
Today, Stars and Stripes reporter Teri Weaver takes a look at the
station and the people who run it. Tomorrow, Stripes looks at how the
new base has assimilated into the Japanese community.
SHARIKI COMMUNICATIONS SITE, Japan - Early this summer, 1st Sgt. Ben
Williams was overseeing a company of 180 soldiers at Camp Carroll in
South Korea.
It was a job the air defense soldier knew and liked. And the 16-year
veteran had a year left on his tour.
In June, Williams' boss called him in.
"He said, 'I need you to do this,' " Williams recounted his command
sergeant major saying.
On July 5, Williams got his orders. By July 9, he was headed out of
South Korea and toward Shariki, Japan, to be one of two uniformed
personnel at a secluded ballistic missile detection site on the
northwestern edge of Honshu Island.
"What is it?" Williams, 34, kept asking colleagues. He looked on the
Internet and found next to nothing. "I never heard of it."
By early August, Williams saw for himself.
Shariki Communications Site, which quietly started operations last
year, sits on a wooded bluff on the edge of the Sea of Japan. Since
then, the farming and fishing village of 5,500 has been home to about
100 government contractors and two Army soldiers who make up the
Detachment 3 of Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 1st Space
Brigade in Colorado.
Their mission: To run an AN/TPY-2 radar system capable of tracking
ballistic missile launches headed from Asia toward America and its
allies.
Life and work at Shariki puts globe-spanning U.S. missile technology
to work on this postage-stamp of rural life.
Capt. Will Hunter, who turns 30 this week, has been the Shariki site's
first and only commander since last summer.
"I feel like I'm working with the modern and unfolding battle space,"
he said of his Army career in air defense. "This idea of long-range
missiles and countering things that are flying in from space, well, to
put it simply, it's something that's really cool."
Shariki gold
The roads toward Shariki trail upward from the Tsugaru Plain, a flat
of arrow-straight rice paddies golden yet faded in early fall. The
nearest and biggest city, Goshogawara, with its two malls and one
dance club, is about 45 minutes away. The nearest U.S. base is in
Misawa, more than two hours by car in good weather. In the winter, the
region averages about 36 feet of snowfall.
Although the ocean is just beyond the next rise, the air gets so thick
with smoke from farmers burning rice stalks that Hunter will switch on
the car's lights during daytime as he drives through the valley and
into hills spread with potato fields, vineyards and clumps of pine.
"It is pretty," he says.
Hunter, a self-described Army brat, grew up in South America and the
U.S. South. He got his undergraduate degree from Michigan State and
served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. Before Shariki, he was stationed in
Hawaii.
Williams didn't think of the Army as a career when he joined. It was
just another option when college didn't work out. He's now planning on
serving for at least 20 years.
After two months at Shariki, Williams describes his job this way:
"Each day is like a fire mission. You put out a fire every day. You
don't know what it will be, but you adapt. Then you go onto the next
thing."
Life in the little city
Each morning, the two soldiers meet with leaders from the other two
entities at the base: Raytheon Co., which runs the radar, and Chenega
Blackwater Solutions, which provides the security.
They discuss the past 24 hours, the upcoming day and any problems,
orders or exercises under way. The Shariki site is run by the Missile
Defense Agency, which oversees the Raytheon contract. The CBS guards
answer more directly to Hunter's unit, which is attached to the 94th
Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Hawaii.
The Americans work closely with the nearby 21st Air Defense Missile
Squadron, part of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The JASDF base has
occupied the bluff since 1980. Now its 300 airmen staff four Japanese-
built Patriot missiles and monitor the international waters that
separate Honshu from Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island.
The remoteness, Hunter says, helps ensure security. But it can make
for long days and nights. The village has a handful of restaurants and
bars that more resemble a friend's living room than a corner pub,
Hunter says.
Some of the contracted guards look at their time in Shariki as a
peaceful tour that lets them save money, take college classes, work
out and learn a little Japanese. The married workers, for the most
part, make weekend commutes to Misawa to see their families.
Williams and Hunter make similar trips during the week for mail,
gasoline, groceries and health care.
In Shariki, Americans share their gym with the Japanese airmen. The
Americans get the benefit of the airmen's baseball field and
basketball court. Much of their off time is spent at local events, and
local residents have grown accustomed to seeing foreigners in town,
the Americans and Japanese air officials say.
But few people in Shariki have been to the radar site.
"There are people in the community who don't actually know where we
are located," Hunter says. "And I think that's a good thing. Half the
battle is people not knowing where you are located."
The base
Americans moved into Shariki under an agreement with the Japanese in
2006. They brought with them concentric rings of wire fences, pre-
fabricated trailer offices and enough generator power to light up the
entire village.
The radar site itself lies down a dirt road lined with warnings
against trespassing and taking pictures. Gravel coats the grass, and
no one is allowed on base without prior approval. Those without
"secret" government clearance must be kept under watch at all times.
After more than a year at the site, permanent bathrooms are just going
up. The soldiers and contractors work in trailers, the kind with
wooden planks for floors and no insulation. Last winter, they worked
with their coats on.
Soon, the site will have a permanent office building, Hunter says.
Soon, the unit will welcome a third military member. Soon, Hunter
hopes, the unit will have a car.
Setting up the base involves extreme patience and self-reliance. Just
last week, Hunter finally welcomed the first translator to his staff.
Previously he had used the handful of contractors who speak Japanese,
or a few of the Japanese airmen who speak English, to conduct meetings
with local officials and send out correspondence.
The airmen make good neighbors and partners, Hunter and Williams say.
The Japanese squadron's commander, Lt. Col. Masaru Ohta, makes sure
the Americans get invited to local community events and military
ceremonies.
At first, Ohta said, some local people objected to the U.S. radar
site. They were afraid the high-powered radio frequencies would
interfere with crops and cell phones. Now, he says, most local people
are no longer worried about it.
Hunter wonders how long the isolation will last. He laughed to himself
on a recent day when a tour bus rolled through the area.
He doubts it will become a tourist site, though. If it did, he says,
it would certainly intensify the mission of keeping the site safe and
secure, of making sure the radar is searching the skies for missiles
carrying nuclear or chemical warheads.
And, in another way, it would tarnish the charm of Shariki.
"I like it out here," he said. "I like the peace and quiet."
==========================
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49341
Tiny base assimilates into Japanese town
To allay locals' health fears, housing built close to radar
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, October 8, 2007
SHARIKI, Japan
In Shariki, selecting the right place for American workers' housing
involved more than worrying about a daily commute.
For the 100 or so government contractors and two U.S. Army soldiers
now living in and around the tiny Japanese village near the Sea of
Japan, setting up a homestead also sent a message about their mission,
according to the company commander at Shariki Communications Site.
"There were some people that told us, if you build that housing
(elsewhere), it will be a public relations disaster," said Capt. Will
Hunter, whose unit in Shariki is attached to the 94th Army Air and
Missile Defense Command in Hawaii. "It implies that you don't think
it's safe to live around the radar."
The radar is the AN/TPY-2, which points high-powered radio waves
westward toward mainland Asia to hunt for enemy missiles headed east
toward America or its allies. The system is serious - it could burn a
person standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, Hunter says.
That hasn't happened, he says, and occasional testing by the Americans
and Japanese has found the radar does not interfere with local cell
phones or harm local farming. Still, showing is better than telling,
and that means building a housing complex for the Americans only a
five-minute drive from the site.
It's an apt example of how community relations can take on special
meaning when a seaside village of 5,500 Japanese residents finds
itself hosting several dozen Americans.
Hunter, the first commander of the year-old unit, has spent much of
the past year making and implementing decisions like housing location.
He's also become a local ambassador of sorts at festivals, parades,
Japanese military ceremonies and even afternoon cookouts.
"I think that's my bigger job," he said when weighing building
relationships with local residents against his other tasks, working
with the contractors and ensuring security of the radar site.
First Sgt. Ben Williams, the only other soldier in the unit, has
picked up the role as well. Williams has been in the Army 16 years,
and this is his first assignment without soldiers to lead and with a
foreign language to negotiate. "I'm still feeling this out," he says.
[JUMPTO]SEE BASE ON PAGE 4On one of his first days in town, he, Hunter
and about 20 other workers from base helped drag a 16-ton float for a
festival in Goshogawara, the biggest city about 45 minutes from base.
"I was drenched," he said of the sweaty work on the humid summer
night.
For Hunter, much of the community relations means establishing safety
procedures and conveniences for the Americans. He has set up phone
lists and emergency procedures with local police and other officials
so languages won't be barriers to a response to Americans in need.
He's even collected menus from local restaurants and had them
translated to make it easier for the Americans to dine out and for
local businesses to attract more customers.
The local community has responded as well. Lt. Col. Masaru Ohta, the
Japan Air Self Defense Force's 21st Air Defense Missile Squadron
commander, ensures Americans get invited to festivals and meetings.
And the city of Tsugaru, which oversees the smaller community of
Shariki, has built a police koban in the village.
"I choose to say this police box was built for us, not because of us,"
Hunter says.
Vehicle accidents have been the one sore spot for Hunter. There have
been quite a few since the Americans came to Shariki, where an average
of 12 meters of snow falls each winter.
Most of the accidents involve simple mistakes, not paying attention or
slipping on ice, Hunter says. Still, a couple of Japanese people have
been injured and gomen money, traditional compensation and condolence
money, has been paid.
"In all honesty, I have beat up the contractors a lot about making
their people drive correctly," Hunter says while driving on a narrow
two-lane road through rice paddies. The highway connects Shariki and
Goshogawara, the closest place to big-city life that includes karaoke
parlors, a dance club and two malls.
It's hard to have absolute control, however, over a workforce that
reports to a private company rather than a company commander, he says.
The Americans work for Raytheon and Chenega Blackwater Solutions, who,
respectively, run the missile radar and provide security at the base.
In the past year, a couple of workers were sent home as punishment.
But Hunter has no direct control over their privilege to hold a
license, as he does over soldiers.
At the Shariki police station, inspector Yoshifumi Nakagawa warmly
welcomes Hunter and gives business cards printed in English and
Japanese to the two members of his staff - Williams and translator
Yuko Akita.
Nakagawa was happy to learn Hunter has an interpreter, his first even
though the Army unit officially stood up on Sept. 26, 2006.
Previously, the captain relied on a handful of the contractors who
speak Japanese, or a few of Ohta's command staff who speak English.
The police official and the translator exchange cell phone numbers,
then Nakagawa praises Hunter for participating in a recent community
walk. It's a formal thank-you for two men who see each other
regularly. Both take the same language exchange course on Fridays, and
the group has dinner together once a month.
Ohta credits the Americans' involvement in the community with
appeasing some of the fears first raised when the radar was built.
"Because they participate in local events," he says through a
translator, "now there are no objections."
The objections haven't quite gone away. A Japanese Ministry of Defense
office, at Shariki city hall, is where the Defense Facilities
Administration Bureau works as liaison between the community and the
U.S. Army base, Hunter says. It's also where locals can go with
concerns about the radar site.
In the past year, complaints have fallen off so much that the office
has reduced its hours twice.
A couple of months ago, Hunter met with the bureau to hear about any
recent complaints. One resident said his pacemaker had acted oddly
when he drove on Shariki's main street. Another man said his radio
transmitted only static at 5 a.m. on a recent day. Both men suspected
the radar.
"Things like that still come up," Hunter said. "I think for the most
part, people understand the radar is not going to hurt them."
