Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has launched a new Miyako-class large patrol vessel for the Japan Coast Guard and delivered another ship of the same series.
Tokyo introduced the Miyako program in 2016 as a response to growing Chinese activity across the Senkaku Islands, an approximately 7-square-kilometer (3-square-mile) region west of Okinawa.
Although administered by the prefecture, the uninhabited islands are claimed by Beijing and Taipei, with both governments asserting historical ownership.
The JCG Suruga
The naming ceremony for the JCG Suruga (PL-208), ordered in fiscal year 2022, was conducted in mid-February at Mitsubishi’s Tamano shipyard in Okoyama.
The company will complete additional outfitting of its hull engines, electrical systems, and weapons before handing the ship over to the service later this year.
Suruga marks the seventh patrol vessel built at the Tamano facility and the eighth platform of the Miyako fleet.
The JCG Daito
A day after Suruga’s launch, the yard delivered the vessel JCG Daito (PL-206) to the coast guard during a ceremony attended by senior officials, including Regional Coast Guard Commander Yusuke Ono.
Daito is the fifth ship of the same class constructed at Tamano and counts as the sixth platform of the program.
According to Mitsubishi, the military will assign Daito to the Nakagusuku Coast Guard Office under its 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Okinawa.
It will conduct territorial waters security, maritime search and rescue, law enforcement, and marine environmental protection missions.
The Miyako Patrol Vessel
Mitsubishi’s Miyako-class system measures 117 meters (384 feet) long, has a cargo capacity of 3,500 tons (3,175,147 kilograms), and is armed with two 40-millimeter naval cannons.
The ship is fitted with four Yanmar 8EY33W diesel engines with a total output of 24,000-horsepower for speeds over 25 knots (46 kilometers/29 miles per hour).
Miyako is expected to surpass the range of its predecessor, the Shikishima-class patrol vessel, which covers about 20,000 nautical miles (37,040 kilometers/23,016 miles).
