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.

Chinese Aggressions

Japan plans to send largest warship to South China Sea
By Tim Kelly

A helicopter lands on the Izumo, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force's (JMSDF) helicopter carrier, at JMSDF Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Japan, December 6, 2016. 

Japan Maritime Self Defense Force's helicopter carrier Izumo is seen at JMSDF Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Japan, December 6, 2016.

TOKYO -- Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May, three sources said, in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two.
China claims almost all the disputed waters and its growing military presence has fueled concern in Japan and the West, with the United States holding regular air and naval patrols to ensure freedom of navigation.
The Izumo helicopter carrier, commissioned only two years ago, will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and U.S. naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July.
It will return to Japan in August, the sources said.
"The aim is to test the capability of the Izumo by sending it out on an extended mission," said one of the sources who have knowledge of the plan. 

"It will train with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea," he added, asking not to be identified because he is not authorized to talk to the media.
A spokesman for Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force declined to comment.
Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei also claim parts of the sea which has rich fishing grounds, oil and gas deposits and through which around $5 trillion of global sea-borne trade passes each year.
Japan does not have any claim to the waters, but has a separate maritime dispute with China in the East China Sea.
Japan wants to invite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has pushed ties with China in recent months as he has criticized the old alliance with the United States, to visit the Izumo when it visits Subic Bay, about 100 km (62 miles) west of Manila, another of the sources said.
Japan's flag-flying operation comes as the United States under President Donald Trump appears to be taking a tougher line with China. 

Washington has criticized China's construction of man-made islands and a build-up of military facilities that it worries could be used to restrict free movement.
Beijing in January said it had "irrefutable" sovereignty over the disputed islands after the White House vowed to defend "international territories".
The 249 meter-long (816.93 ft) Izumo is as large as Japan's World War Two-era carriers and can operate up to nine helicopters. 

It resembles the amphibious assault carriers used by U.S. Marines, but lacks their well deck for launching landing craft and other vessels.
Japan in recent years, particularly under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has been stretching the limits of its post-war, pacifist constitution. 

It has designated the Izumo as a destroyer because the constitution forbids the acquisition of offensive weapons. 

The vessel, nonetheless, allows Japan to project military power well beyond its territory.
Based in Yokosuka, near to Tokyo, which is also home to the U.S. Seventh Fleet's carrier, the Ronald Reagan, the Izumo's primary mission is anti-submarine warfare.