Japan's Tank Forces Prepare For A Potential Clash With China

Type 61 main battle tanks during an exercise at Camp Fuji in Japan, November 18, 1985. US Defense Department  

Business Insider: Japan is rethinking how to use its tanks to prepare for a potential clash with China 

 * Japan built a large and capable armored force to counter the Soviets during the Cold War. 

* But a rising China poses a new challenge, and Japan is changing how it designs and uses its armor. 

Despite a few successes early in World War II, Japanese armor was hopelessly outclassed by Allied tanks as soon as they arrived in large numbers. 

Those experiences and the threat of a Soviet invasion led the Japanese to put much more effort into post-war tank designs.

By the 1990s, Japan had a large and capable armored force. But the Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF) has had to recalibrate in recent decades. 

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WNU Editor: Even with these improvements, Japan's armored forces arel still outgunned 3:1 by China

Japan Upgrading To New Missiles That Will Target China's Aircraft Carriers

China's first home-made aircraft carrier Shandong, named after Shandong Province in east China, was launched in December 2019 at the naval port in Sanya, Hainan province. Photo: Handout

SCMP: Japan to upgrade new missile to target aircraft carriers, as it steps up East China Sea island defences

* Defence officials are looking at improving the anti-shipping capabilities of the new hyper velocity gliding projectile (HVGP)
* This comes as Chinese ships continue to enter Japanese waters around the disputed islands known as the Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan

The Japanese military is planning to upgrade a next-generation missile to give it the ability to target an aircraft carrier, an enhancement that would be a clear shot across China’s bow in the ongoing dispute over islands in the East China Sea.

Citing sources in the Japanese Ministry of Defence, the Mainichi newspaper said discussions are under way to improve the anti-shipping capabilities of the hyper velocity gliding projectile (HVGP), which is currently being developed and is due to be put into operational service as early as 2026.

First announced in late 2018, the weapon is designed to be launched from a rocket in the upper atmosphere and glide towards its target at a very high speed. It is manoeuvred via GPS, making it more difficult to intercept than a conventional missile.

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WNU Editor: The media focus has been on China's growing missile forces. We tend to forget that the countries facing China are also doing the same thing.

In Response To China's Repeated Aeiral And Maritime Incursions Japan Is In A Rush To Build Bases On Its Southwestern Islands

Washington Post: Japan builds an ‘island wall’ to counter China’s intensifying military, territorial incursions

MIYAKO, Japan — A high-stakes “game of chicken” is playing out in the East China Sea, as Beijing pokes and provokes Tokyo with an intensifying campaign of aerial and maritime encroachments designed to challenge Japan’s control of disputed islands.

Every day, around the clock, Japan scrambles fighter jets and dispatches coast guard vessels to counter some new Chinese provocation and ward off the intruding boats and planes. It is also building a “wall” of defensive installations, including missile bases, along the chain of subtropical, touristed islands that make up the archipelago’s southwestern arc.

“China wants to change the status quo, but it does not want a military confrontation,” said Michael Bosack, a special adviser at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies in Japan. “The problem here is that miscalculation may lead to confrontation and/or escalation.”

The contest has prompted a shift in Japan’s defense strategy. Over the past few years, the country has significantly expanded its air force and coast guard bases centered on the southwestern island of Okinawa, which already hosts tens of thousands of U.S. troops and the largest U.S. air base in the Asia-Pacific.

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WNU Editor: It is obvious from the graph above that in 2011 China made the decision to test Japan's territorial claims, and they have not stopped since then.

President Trump: Japan Will Purchase 105 F-35s

FILE PHOTO. © Reuters / US Air Force

Defense-Blog: Trump announces Japan’s purchase of 105 new F-35 stealth aircraft

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Japan plans to buy almost 105 new F-35 Lightning ll stealth fighter jets.

“The United States supports Japan’s efforts to improve its defense capabilities, and in recent months we have sent them a large amount of military equipment,” Trump said at a press conference, announcing Japan’s intention to buy 105 US-made stealth warplanes, giving it the largest F-35 fleet of any US ally.

According to the American leader: “(They’re) stealth because the fact is you can’t see them.”

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More News On President Trump's Announcement That Japan Will Purchase 105 F-35s

Japan to buy 105 F-35 US stealth warplanes: Trump -- AFP
Japan Agrees to Buy 105 US F-35 Fighter Jets - Trump -- Sputnik
‘You can’t see them’: Japan set to buy 100+ US F-35 stealth fighter jets, Trump boasts -- RT

Japan Activates Its First Marine Unit Since The Second World War

Soldiers of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF)'s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, Japan's first marine unit since World War Two, gather at a ceremony activating the brigade at JGSDF's Camp Ainoura in Sasebo, on the southwest island of Kyushu, Japan April 7, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Reuters: Japan activates first marines since WW2 to bolster defenses against China

SASEBO/TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - Japan on Saturday activated its first marine unit since World War Two trained to counter invaders occupying Japanese islands along the edge of the East China Sea that Tokyo fears are vulnerable to attack by China.

In a ceremony held at a military base near Sasebo on the southwest island of Kyushu, about 1,500 members of the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) wearing camouflage lined up outside amid cold, windy weather.

“Given the increasingly difficult defense and security situation surrounding Japan, defense of our islands has become a critical mandate,” Tomohiro Yamamoto, vice defense minister, said in a speech.

The troops conducted a 20-minute mock public exercise recapturing a remote island from invaders.

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More News On Japan Activating Its First Marine Unit Since The Second World War

Japan launches Marines unit amid China's growing presence -- AFP
Japan activates first marine unit since Second World War to bolster defences against China -- The Independent
Japan Activates First Marine Unit Since The Second World War -- Forces Network
Japan's military rising with first marines since WWII -- Al Jazeera
Japan activates first marines since WW2 (VIDEO) -- RT

What Is The Japanese Military Role When It Comes To North Korea

Yahoo News: Japanese defense in the age of North Korean missile successes

The United States and South Korea began large-scale air-defense exercises on Monday, ignoring pleas from Russia and China to call off the annual military exercises in hopes that, in exchange, North Korea would slow its weapons programs. The decision signaled that the U.S. and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan, are losing faith in the prospects for negotiations with the regime in Pyongyang.

“People may ask why we do not engage with North Korea. We have been engaging with North Korea for more than 20 years,” a Japanese government official told Yahoo News at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. “Our sincere will for dialogue with North Korea was betrayed, simply put.”

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Update: Here is a clear sign on how Japan is changing its defense posture .... Japan Wants Long-Range Missiles That Could Reach North Korea, Report Says (Newsweek).

WNU Editor: Here is a good read on what is the Japanese military's role when it comes to North Korea .... When it comes to North Korea, what is Japan's military role? (Thomas Maresca, Special to USA TODAY).

Japan Deploys Missile Defense System To Central Tokyo

Daily Mail: Japan moves missile defence system into central Tokyo as people rush to buy bomb shelters and US citizens in Hawaii are told to prepare for a nuclear attack… but South Koreans are surprisingly blasé

* PAC-3 Patriot missile unit moved into a compound at Tokyo's Defence Ministry
* Comes as sales of bomb shelters continue to rise amid the North Korea crisis
* South Korea says it is planning to bolster defences to create a 'winning military'
* Hawaii says it is working on how to warn its 1.4million resident in event of attack

Japan has wheeled missile defence systems into the heart of Tokyo after North Korea threatened to send a volley of rockets over the country towards Guam.

Pictures show how a PAC-3 Patriot missile unit has been moved in to a compound at the Defence Ministry in the capital after officials said they could shoot down North Korean rockets if they pass overhead.

Sales of bomb shelters in Japan are said to have increased as tensions continue to rise in the region while officials in Seoul have vowed to bolster their defences. But South Korean citizens - long accustomed to its neighbour's fearsome rhetoric - are staying remarkably calm as the crisis unfolds, it has been reported.

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WNU Editor: This is becoming the new normal.

This is How Japan Will Sink The Chinese Navy In The Event Of War

Chinese servicemen gesture from the deck of a naval vessel, during the closing ceremony of the Pakistan Navy’s Multinational Exercise AMAN-17, in the North Arabian Sea, Pakistan, February 14, 2017. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro​

Kyle Mizokami, National Interest: How Japan Could Sink China's Navy in a War: Ramjet Missiles

A new anti-ship missile promises to give a tremendous boost to the Japan Self Defense Force's ability to deter naval aggression. The missile, known as XASM-3, can travel at speeds of Mach 3, evading missile defenses to sink enemy surface ships. The missiles will be a significant worry for China, whose navy will have to sail within range of the missiles in order to reach the North Pacific Ocean.

Traditional anti-ship missiles such as the U.S.-made Harpoon and French Exocet use rocket motors and turbojet engines to fly at subsonic speeds. The missiles are collectively known as “sea skimmers” due to their ability to fly as little as fifteen feet above the waves. The advantage to this low altitude flight is that incoming missiles are hidden from targets by the curvature of the earth. The lower a missile flies, the shorter the detection range. A radar sixty feet off the ground can detect a sea skimming missile flying at thirty feet at a range of nineteen miles. Assuming a Harpoon missile flies at a height of ten meters, enemy air defenses will pick it up on their radars only in the last two minutes of flight, giving them little time to react.

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WNU Editor: This is a clear signal from Japan to China that in the event of a conflict .... China will be paying a heavy price.

Japan Successfully Completes Its First Stealth Fighter Jet Test

CNN: Japan's first stealth fighter jet test: 'extremely stable'

(CNN)Japan joined the exclusive stealth jet club Friday with the successful test flight of its first radar-evading aircraft -- a prototype called the X-2.

The test pilot described the flight as "extremely stable," according to manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The twin-engine jet -- painted in the national red and white colors -- took off from Japan's Nagoya airport and completed various test maneuvers including climbing, descent and circling.

It then touched down at Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Gifu Air Base, Mitsubishi said. The pilot said the flight mirrored simulated training.

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More News On Japan Successfully Completing Its First Stealth Fighter Jet Test

Japan succeeds in test flight of first stealth fighter jet -- AFP
Japan launches first stealth plane from Nagoya airfield -- IBTimes
Japan's Stealth Jet Makes First Flight as Abe Boosts Defense -- Bloomberg
Japan's X-2 stealth fighter jet takes to the skies: $332 million prototype completed its maiden flight with 'no particular problems' -- Daily Mail
Japan’s stealth fighter takes maiden flight -- Financial Times
Prototype Japanese stealth fighter makes maiden flight -- UPI
Japan’s X-2 “Shinshin” indigenous stealth jet makes first flight -- The Aviationist
Japan's Stealth Fighter Test Plane Soars -- Popular Mechanics
Japan-made stealth makes maiden flight -- Japan News/JiJi Press
Japan becomes fourth nation to test-fly homegrown stealth jet -- Japan Times
Japan-made stealth aircraft takes to skies for 1st time -- Asahi Shimbun

Is The Japanese Military A 'Toothless Tiger'?

Japan's military was no match for Godzilla

BBC: Toothless tiger: Japan Self-Defence Forces

Asia military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady asks just how fighting fit are Japan's so-called Self-Defence Forces?

Japan's relationship with its armed forces was once a defining characteristic of the nation. Indeed, "Fukoku kyohei [Enrich the state, strengthen the military]" was the battle cry of the reformers who founded modern Japan during the so-called Meiji Restoration beginning in the 1860s.

In the first decades of the 20th Century, Japan, rather than a state with a military, the island nation slowly transformed into a military with a state - "one hundred million hearts beating as one", as a wartime propaganda slogan boasted.

That all changed after the World War Two.

WNU Editor: The Japanese military does have its limitations. But like the Chinese, I would never underestimate them.

China And Japan Are Both Centralizing Their Security Decision-Making

China and Japan: Uprating National Security -- Trefor Moss, The Diplomat

Both countries are trying to centralize security decision-making. Could this help avoid a clash?

We often hear that China and Japan are inching ever closer towards a point of crisis. This may be so, although for two countries supposedly on a collision course they have developed quite a knack, it must be said, of not actually colliding. However, if Sino-Japanese relations should continue to deteriorate, as Beijing’s establishment of a controversial new Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) last week suggests they might, then both China and Japan are at least improving their ability to plan and manage their responses.

Against this tense backdrop, it is hardly a coincidence that Beijing and Tokyo should have set up their versions of the National Security Council (NSCs) within a few weeks of one another (China’s version is actually called the State Security Committee (SSC), but it’s an NSC in spirit) – which is not to say that one government was simply trying to keep pace with the other. Instead, their actions reflect the rising stakes in East Asia: the likelihood of conflict (and social unrest, in China’s case) appears to be growing, even as the political and economic implications of a Chinese or Sino-Japanese security crisis become more serious.

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My Comment: Both countries do not want an accidental shooting war.

After The U.S. What Country Has The Strongest Navy, Air Force In Asia?

Strongest Navy, Air Force in Asia -- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat

Some Friday defense and security links:

Breaking Defense reports that at an event in Washington this week, defense analyst Larry M. Wortzel said, “Japan has the strongest navy and air force in Asia except for the United States,” prompting one astonished audience member to inquire, “You said Japan?” According to the report, Wortzel did warn that China is the most dangerous military power in the region, owing to its history of launching preemptive and preventive “counterattacks” in the name of self-defense, along with its current “active defense” doctrine.

Breaking Defense also has an exceptional overview of the strengths and limits to Indo-U.S. defense cooperation, ahead of Prime Minister Singh’s meeting with President Obama at the White House today.

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My Comment: It may be true now .... but everyone knows that the Chinese are catching up.

Japan's Military Rises To The Test In Crisis Hit Japan

Japan's Crisis Bolsters Its Military -- Wall Street Journal

Dozens of soldiers in camouflage and olive drab helmets now scour the debris-strewn outskirts of Rikuzentakata in search for victims from Japan's recent quake and tsunami. Military helicopters hover offshore, looking for bodies in the waves, while soldiers offer water—and even wash victims' clothes—in nearby shelters.

The efforts are part of Japan's largest military mission since World War II, with roughly 106,000 of its 240,000 soldiers rendering aid.

The stakes for Japan's military are high: If the mission is seen as a success, as it has been for the most part so far, it could lead to wider acceptance of a more-active military at a time when it is eyeing an increasingly visible international role. If it fails, with delays in reconstruction or other problems, it could dent the military's reputation.

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My Comment: I have the utmost confidence that the Japanese military will rise to the occasion. A special acknowledgement should also be given to U.S. soldiers in Japan .... they have also risen successfully to the challenge in rendering aid to the Japanese in their time of need.