Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) may go to Iraq aboard a Boeing747 jumbo jet designed exclusively for government use, the leading Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.  

The idea came after Japanese airline companies are reluctant to fly to Iraq and other military transport planes cannot fly without refueling, the paper quoted government sources as saying.

The Japanese government might decide this week on a basic plan over the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.

Under the plan, a 30-member advance team of the ground force will be sent within this year, followed by a unit of about 100 personnel in charge of setting up facilities, including a camp. Finally, the main unit, comprised of about 550 personnel, will arrive and be engaged in reconstruction assistance, according to the daily.

The Defense Agency also plans to transport heavy machinery by renting an An-124, the world's largest transport plane, from Russia, said the daily.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2003)