Sina Delenda Est

Japan To Get First Aircraft Carriers Since World War II

By H I Sutton

Japan is set to deploy its first aircraft carriers since World War II. 

The Japanese Navy will modernize two helicopter destroyers into de facto aircraft carriers. 

This will increase the number of carrier operators in the Asia-Pacific region.

Japanese Navy carrier Izumo, photographed in 2016. She will be modified to support F-35 jets.

Historically the Imperial Japanese Navy placed a heavy emphasis on aircraft carriers. 

The Hōshō, when she was commissioned on December 27, 1922, was the first purpose built aircraft carrier in the world. 

Going into the Battle of Midway in June 1942 Japan had the largest aircraft carrier fleet in the world. 

This did not last. 

By the end of the war many carriers had been sunk, mostly by the U.S. Navy. 

After the war the remaining carriers were scrapped and Japan entered a period of disarmament, adopting a Constitution in 1947 that forbade the maintenance of forces that could wage war.
Amid the Korean War and Cold War, with U.S. support, military capabilities were rebuilt for the purpose of self-defense, which was deemed constitutional.
Recently Japan’s neighbors have began acquiring carriers. 

China is building a fleet of large aircraft carriers. 

One of them, Shandong, sailed through the Taiwan Strait on November 17 with fighter jets on deck. The passage, which could be interpreted as a show of force, was reportedly trailed by U.S Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) vessels. 

South Korea is also planning its first jet-equipped carriers.
Against this backdrop the interpretation of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution has shifted under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 

Japan will not have aircraft carriers, but it will have Multi-Purpose Operation Destroyers. 

To a lay person the difference is only in the name. 

Two current ‘Helicopter Destroyers’ will be modified to carry F-35B fighters.Actually, the return to de facto aircraft carriers has been a multi-step journey, at least in naval architecture terms. 

Starting in the Cold War, Japan built extra-large destroyers equipped with more helicopters than those of other nations. 

The Shirane class were 7,500 tons and could carry 3 Sea King helicopters. 

Other countries' destroyers could carry one or two helicopters. 

But there was no suggestion that they might carry jet aircraft.
The ships which followed them were in a different league altogether. 

Euphemistically called 'helicopter destroyers,' these have the look and feel of flat-top aircraft carriers. And at 19,000 tons they are larger than some of the light carriers in service with other navies. 

But the biggest was yet to come. 

The follow-on Izumo class comes in at 27,000 tons. 

It is these 2 ships which are slated to receive F-35B Lightning-II jets.
Japan formally announced the purchase of 42 Lockheed Martin F-35B jets in August. 

These are the jump jet version, capable of short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) operations. This allows them to operate aboard Japan’s new carriers. 

The air force already operates the larger F-35A model which is not capable of landing on the new carriers. 

By the time the -B models enter service, probably in the 2020s, the carriers should be ready to receive them.
Japan’s carriers will be smaller and fewer than China’s, but they slow the pace by which the JMSDF is being overtaken by the rapidly modernizing Chinese fleet.

U.S. Sends Warship Carrying Fighter Jets to Disputed Sea in Signal to China

• USS Wasp spotted near China-occupied feature
• Warship joins Philippine drills in American show of support

By Ditas B Lopez

The USS Wasp Navy ship. 

The U.S. sent a fighter-jet-carrying warship to join drills near Scarborough Shoal for the first time, sending a pointed message to China as tensions simmer over territorial claims in the region.
The USS Wasp -- an amphibious assault ship outfitted last year with F-35B jets -- joined the annual Exercise Balikatan with the Philippines this month. 

A ship matching the USS Wasp’s description was spotted in waters “near the Scarborough Shoal,” a feature occupied by China since a tense standoff in seven years ago, the Philippines’ ABS-CBN News reported Tuesday.
The USS Wasp didn’t pass within 25 nautical miles of the shoal, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

The figure suggests that the ship wasn’t conducting a so-called freedom of navigation operation, a practice criticized by China that the U.S. uses to assert international sailing rights within 12 nautical miles of disputed features.

‘Free and Open’
The moves come as officials in Manila escalate protests over the presence of more than 200 Chinese ships near the Philippine-occupied South China Sea feature of Thitu. 

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has urged China to “lay off” the feature, saying he would order a military action.
The U.S. has been seeking to firm up its treaty alliance with the strategically located Southeast Asian nation ever since Duterte was elected in 2016 and announced his “separation” from Washington in favor of Beijing. 

In March, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo assured local officials during a visit to Manila that their treaty would apply to Philippine vessels or planes attacked in disputed waters.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said earlier this week that the U.S. would remain the country’s only military ally.
More than 7,000 soldiers from the Philippines and the U.S. are participating in Exercise Balikatan, according to General Benjamin Madrigal Jr., the Philippine military chief.
The combined information bureau for the joint military drills said Tuesday that the USS Wasp “has been training with Philippine Navy ships in Subic Bay and international waters of the South China Sea as part of the Exercise Balikatan for several days.”
The training is focused on “maritime security and amphibious capabilities, as well as multinational interoperability through military exchanges,” the bureau said. 

This year’s joint exercise was the first to incorporate the USS Wasp with the U.S. Marines Corps’ F-35B Lighting II aircraft.
“Together they represent an increase in military capability committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the bureau said. 

“Participating in Balikatan demonstrates their ability to forward deploy in support of an ally should a crisis or natural disaster occur.”