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Japan is back in the business of operating a fixed-wing aircraft carrier, with the first embarkation of short takeoff and vertical-landing F-35B stealth jets from the U.S. Marine Corps on the modified helicopter carrier Izumo. It is the first instance of the country operating fixed-wing aircraft from ships since the end of World War II. The trials are set to kickstart a new era for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, or JMSDF, which has long harbored ambitions to adapt its two 24,000-ton Izumo class helicopter carriers for fixed-wing operations. The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced today that the Marine Corps...

U.S. Marine F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters will operate off a Japanese warship later this year, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said on Wednesday. In November, the Marine F-35Bs will embark on one of the two 24,000-ton Izumo-class helicopter destroyers in an exchange that could lead to a similar program in which a U.S. Marine JSF squadron embarked aboard U.K. Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) this year. “We’re not going to go on deployment but we’re actually going to fly U.S. Marine Corps F-35s off of a Japanese ship,” Berger said on Wednesday during a...

Senior defense officials in Taiwan were coy about the country's military collaboration with Japan when quizzed on Monday about satellite imagery showing an apparent joint surveillance operation of a Chinese warship in the East China Sea. Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters that Taiwan was cooperating with a number of friendly parties but said he could not disclose information about specific departments. On Saturday, Japan's Defense Ministry said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) frigate Binzhou had passed through the Miyako Strait into the Western Pacific the day before. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force later deployed an Abukuma-class destroyer escort and...

A Japanese destroyer left for the Gulf of Oman on Sunday amid simmering Middle East tension to guard sea lanes that supply nearly all the oil that powers the world’s third-biggest economy. “Thousands of Japanese ships ply those waters every year including vessels carrying nine tenths of our oil. It is Japan’s lifeline,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the crew at Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo, before they cast off in a ceremony attended by 500 family members and representatives from the United States, European nations and Middle East. Abe’s government has said it is prepared to authorize force...

Japan has unveiled what is very likely the design for its next-generation attack submarine. The 29SS submarines would replace the existing Sōryū class submarines starting in the early 2030s. The futuristic undersea warship will ensure that Tokyo retains its reputation for the quietest, most modern non-nuclear submarines in the world.

In its 10-year Defense Program Guidelines, Tokyo said it will buy 42 of the stealthy F-35Bs, which are designed for short-run take offs and vertical landings. Those planes will be available for deployment aboard two flat-top ships, the JS Izumo and JS Kaga, which at more than 800 feet long and displacing 27,000 tons are the largest ships in the Japanese fleet. The Izumo and Kaga have been carrying helicopters designed for anti-submarine warfare since entering service over the past three years. They will need to have their decks reinforced to accommodate the heavier F-35Bs, as well as the heat...

Japan, once a world leader in aircraft carriers, is preparing to wade back into the world of fixed wing aviation. The Pacific country, which swore off flat-tops in the aftermath of World War II, is preparing to reverse decades of government policy and add fighter planes to so-called “helicopter destroyers" to counter Chinese air power. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Japan was an aircraft carrier superpower. Japan had more carriers than any other country, including the United States, and its pilots were trained to a high standard by years of war. A little...

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Nagasaki shipyard held the launch ceremony for the second (and last) 25DD/Asahi-class ASW Destroyer. The vessel, named "Shiranui" (hull number DD-120) will join first ship of the class "Asahi" in Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) service. Asahi started sea trials in July 2017. The Asahi-class is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) class of destroyers based on the existing Akizuki-class (19DD) of destroyers which is more focused on AAW. The vessel displaces over 5,000 tons for a length of 151 meters, a width of 18.3 meters and a draft of 5.4 meters. Shiranui Destroyer DD25 Asahi class...

The Japanese Ministry of Defense allocated funds to develop a surface launched variant of the Mitsubishi AAM-4 (Type 99 air-to-air missile) effectively resurecting the canceled XRIM-4 project. Image: Japan MoD The Mitsubishi AAM-4 is a medium-range active radar homing air-to-air missile operational since 1999. The new funding is for the development of a boosted, surface launched variant for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). The missile could have two variant: A long range one (with booster) to replace SM-2 and a short range one (no booster) to replace ESSM. Story via JSF

China has lately been resorting to defiant and audacious acts like claiming its territorial rights over waters around artificial island it has built in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea and unilaterally designating an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea. While these acts are visible to all, the real front battle line lies deep in the sea where submarines are principal players. This article attempts to provide in-depth descriptions of the real picture of submarines of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and their roles, as little has so far been made known about them. During the...

On board the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Bay of Bengal, Oct. 17: An Indian warship played "shotgun" for this US super-carrier during an air defence drill last night, about 150 nautical miles east-southeast of Chennai during the latest edition of the Malabar war games, which also include a Japanese destroyer. "The 'shotgun' role will be shared by the Indians and the Japanese in this exercise," said Captain Craig Clapperton, commanding officer of the carrier. On Sunday, an Indian fleet tanker is expected to pull alongside and feed the carrier in a hostile scenario described as "opposed replenishment at sea"....

According to the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) request for proposal (RfP) to bidding contractors, the 27DD destroyers will incorporate a number of design changes compared to the first batch of Atago class guided missile destroyers. 27DD AEGIS Guided Missile Destroyer technical specifications and layout First, the hull of 27DD has been enlarged to an empty displacement of 8,200 tons compared to the original Atago's 7,700 tons. It is believed in the Japanese defense community that the enlargement of the hull was conceived in order to provide a necessary growth space for advanced naval weapon systems that are currently under...

In its latest "Defense and space domain briefing" Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) unveiled a new surface combatant concept. Not much information is available but this new concept may be MHI's vision for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) next generation 3000 tons class Frigate known as "30FF" or FFX. MHI surface combatant vessel concept revealed in its latest "Defense and space domain briefing" could be the JMSDF future 3000 tons class frigate known as "30FF". Source: MHI The MHI briefing document explains that this concept vessel is being designed to answer the new needs from the JMSDF for "compact"...

A 24,000-ton helicopter carrier has formally entered the fleet of Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) on Wednesday making the ship the largest warship Japan has fielded since the close of World War II. The commissioning ceremony JS Izumo (DDH-183) — the first of two for the JMSDF — was held in Yokohama and attended by Defense Minister Gen Nakatani. Billed by the Japanese as a platform to assist in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) operations, the ship has flared regional tensions in neighbors— China especially — who view the ship as a power projection...

YOKOHAMA (Reuters) - Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force on Wednesday took delivery of the biggest Japanese warship since World War Two, the Izumo, a helicopter carrier as big as the Imperial Navy aircraft carriers that battled the United States in the Pacific. The Izumo with a crew of 470 sailors is a highly visible example of how Japan is expanding the capability of its military to operate overseas and enters service as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks lawmaker approval to loosen the restraints of Japan's pacifist post-war constitution. The 248 meter (813 feet) long Izumo resembles U.S. Marine Corp amphibious...

Japan is trying to sell Britain submarine-hunting patrol jets to replace the RAF’s axed Nimrod planes, as the country pushes arms exports for the first time in decades. Officials proposed a sale of P-1 maritime patrol aircraft last year during a visit to the UK, in a deal that could top £600 million. Britain scrapped its own Nimrod patrol planes after the 2010 cost-cutting defence review and has since had to rely on allies including France, Canada and America to fill the gap. The Ministry of Defence admitted last month that it had called on allies to send four planes...

PLA drills sandwich Japan from north and south Staff Reporter 2014-12-28 13:10 (GMT+8) The People's Liberation Army appears to be strategizing on how it would sandwich Japan from the north and south in the event of a military conflict, says a Taiwanese military expert. Ching Chang, a research fellow at Taiwan's Society for Strategic Studies, made the comments in response to a series of naval drills conducted by the PLA's three main fleets — the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet and the South Sea Fleet — earlier this month. On Dec. 4, the North Sea Fleet's flagship Harbin...

Japan’s largest warship since World War II has left for its first set of sea trials last week ahead of entering the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF)fleet next year. JS Izumo (DDH-183) departed Tokyo Bay on Sept. 23, as seen as in a video on YouTube, for the first round of what will be about six months of sea trials ahead of the ship’s commissioning next year, a JMSDF official told Jane’s Defence Weekly on Monday. The 24,000-ton helicopter carrier is the first of two planned ships. Izumo will enter the JMSDF force next year. DDH-184 will enter the...

China's loss of the first Sino-Japanese war has been attributed to a disorganised navy. Although the northern fleet equalled, some say exceeded, the Meiji navy in terms of firepower, it was annihilated because it lacked coordination among its military units. Today while Japan's navy may have a qualitative advantage over China's, the People's Liberation Army is catching up, analysts say. In sheer manpower, China has the upper hand, with Beijing putting the PLA Navy's strength at 235,000, or more than five times the number in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force. But the Japanese navy has being training with modern warfare...

Known as the “ninja of the seas,” Japan’s Hakuryu submarine carries enough firepower to knock out an aircraft carrier with a single blow. But the Type 89 torpedo is not the vessel’s most effective feature in strengthening Japan’s warning and surveillance operations in its waters. “A submarine’s greatest weapon is stealth,” Maritime Self-Defense Force Capt. Kaoru Yoshida said. “Our mere presence that makes (the enemy think) ‘there might be a powerful submarine out there’ is a deterrent.” In the National Defense Program Guidelines formulated at the end of last year, Japan decided to increase its submarine fleet from the current...