The Cabinet approved plans Friday to dispatch Self-Defense Forces aircraft to Pakistan to airlift relief supplies for refugees entering the country from neighboring Afghanistan.
Under the plans, the Air Self-Defense Force will send six C-130H cargo planes today from its Komaki base in Aichi Prefecture. The aircraft are scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday after stopping at several cities, including Manila and Delhi, to refuel and rest. They will return to Komaki base Friday.
It will be the third time the ASDF has airlifted supplies overseas under the 1992 peacekeeping operation cooperation law, which enables the SDF to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations. The previous missions were to Zaire in 1994 and to Indonesia in 1999.