High-tech Japan warship collides with fishing boat

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese naval destroyer equipped withsophisticated radar key to the country's missile defence systemcollided with a fishing boat on Tuesday, the coastguard said,raising questions about the ship's monitoring.

Two men on board the 12-metre (39 ft) fishing boat weremissing after the collision east of Tokyo, prompting a searchby military and coastguard vessels and aircraft.

The Atago destroyer, commissioned last spring, is thenewest of Japan's five ships equipped with high-tech Aegisradar systems and typically carries a crew of around 300.

The opposition Democratic Party's top point person ondefence said the party wanted an explanation of the incidentfrom authorities, including why the destroyer's crew anddefensive radar had not seen the fishing boat.

"This radar system should be better than any other ship's,"lawmaker Keiichiro Asao told Reuters. "If they were not awareof the fishing boat, they could be attacked by any terrorists."

Some analysts said the Aegis system, used primarily for airdefence, was unlikely to have been at fault.

"This would appear to be human error -- an oversight or aprocedural mistake," said Lance Gatling, CEO of aerospaceconsultancy Gatling Associates, in an email interview.

Incidents involving the military are sensitive in Japan,where a streak of pacificism runs deep and the post-World WarTwo constitution bans the maintenance of armed forces. The banhas been interpreted as allowing a military for self-defence.

TV pictures showed divers searching for the missing crew asthe bright red and white prow of the fishing boat, which wassplit in half in the collision, bobbed up and down in the wavessurrounded by fishing floats and other debris.

A group of about 80 people beating drums and gongs gatheredto pray on the dock where Haruo Kichisei, 58, and his23-year-old son Tetsuhiro had set out on a tuna fishing tripearly Tuesday.

The incident comes as Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda'spopularity is slipping due to doubts about his leadership.

A survey by the conservative Yomiuri newspaper published onTuesday showed support for Fukuda's cabinet had fallen to 39percent, with a disapproval rating of 51 percent.

Japan's missile defence system, introduced with U.S. helpafter North Korea fired a missile over Japan in 1998, has Aegisship-based SM-3 missiles and land-based PAC-3 interceptors.

The Atago was heading back to Japan after a trainingexercise in Hawaii, a defence ministry spokesman said.

A similar Japanese ship equipped with SM-3 missile defenceequipment successfully shot down a dummy ballistic missile offHawaii in December in a joint exercise with the United States.

The Aegis radar system, supplied by Lockheed Martin Corp,is used by the U.S. Navy and other naval forces around theworld.

(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Hideyuki Sano)