Free Republic

YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA PREF. - Journalists on Wednesday were given a guided tour of the Izumo — Japan’s largest flat-topped helicopter carrier — for the first time since the Defense Ministry revealed a controversial plan late last year to convert it so that it could handle fixed-wing aircraft — which critics and some opposition lawmakers say could make it capable of offensive operations. The pacifist postwar Constitution bans the possession of “attack aircraft carriers,” and calls for an exclusively defense-oriented posture. However, under a five-year defense build-up plan adopted in December, the 248-meter, 195,000-ton vessel will be undergoing a major remodeling...

Japanese Ministry of Defense executives have outright admitted that despite the Japanese government's past denials that the Izumo class "helicopter destroyers" were not designed to accommodate fixed-wing short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) tactical jets, they actually were designed with exactly that in mind. The Asahi Shimbun quoted Maritime Self Defense Force sources stating the following: “It is only reasonable to design (the Izumo) with the prospect of possible changes of the circumstances in the decades ahead... We viewed that whether the Izumo should be actually refitted could be decided by the government.” When the Izumo first entered service, the...

The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s newest ship has a flight deck its entire length and is nearly the size of the Shokaku and Zuikaku aircraft carriers that took part in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, yet Japan insists it is not an aircraft carrier. With a length of about 250 meters and standard displacement of 19,500 tons, the Izumo is the biggest ship in the fleet. Up to nine helicopters can land on its deck at the same time. Even so, the Defense Ministry and MSDF insist the Izumo, which was launched last summer, is simply a destroyer capable of...

On August 6 last week the MSDF unveiled its new helicopter “destroyer,” the Izumo (22DDH). While much media and diplomatic fuss has been made about this being an “aircraft carrier in disguise” with potentially “offensive” applications, there are some legal, practical, and future considerations that need to be understood for a balanced discussion of its significance to take place. Following on from the discussion in the previous instalment of this series, the question that one should reflect upon is whether the Izumo could be regarded as “war potential” given that many regard aircraft carriers to be exclusively offensive in nature....