Thursday, March 6, 2014

Japan Wants To Have it's Own Marine Corps

Soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force practice amphibious landing techniques while conducting Helo Cast training Jan. 27 during Exercise Iron Fist 2014 aboard Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Calif. (Cpl. Emmanuel Ramos / Marine Corps)

Japan Plans 3,000-Troop Unit For Island Defense -- Wall Street Journal

TOKYO--Japan plans to establish a 3,000-troop unit specializing in amphibious operations "as swiftly as possible," the defense minister said, publicly outlining details of the new unit for the first time as tensions with China grow over disputed islands.

Japan has undertaken an ambitious project to create a force similar to the U.S. Marine Corps, and Japanese Self-Defense Force Troops have been receiving increasingly frequent training from their U.S. counterparts in the past few years.

A plan to strengthen amphibious capabilities was laid out in Japan's new defense guidelines released in December. In detailing some of the specifics Sunday, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the new force is expected to include units specializing in types of equipment currently unfamiliar to Japanese troops, such as amphibious vehicles and the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

Read more ....

Update: Report: Japan to create amphibious force modeled after USMC -- Marine Times

My Comment: The Japanese are playing catch-up to have an effective force that can either take an island .... or to keep it. I am surprised that they are doing this only now.

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