Japan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

SamuraiBlue said:

The only use of iron ore is to extract steel so they are basically interchangeable.
Steel production is done through out the world and production of one nation would basically pick up from if another nation's export prices were to go up which will happen when China tries to import more iron ore from Brazil.(If Brazil is able to answer demand from China that is.)
Lastly you were the one that pulled the first punch about Australia's decision based on China's imaginary influence through economic ties.
The decision was made on basis that France will develop all the subs in SA and senator from SA, Mr.Nick Xenophon demanded it has to be developed at ASC like all newspaper reported and not some self made presumptions.
Why not stick to the topic at hand and not pull low blows from now on shall we?

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Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ships might join the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson for naval drills as the group of ships centered around the aircraft carrier heads for the Korean Peninsula.

Japan would dispatch its destroyers when the U.S. ships enter the East China Sea, Reuters reported military sources as saying.

The move is likely to further provoke Kim Jong Un and the North Korea regime. Pyongyang officials already said they would respond to “reckless acts of aggression” with force.

The deployment of the U.S. Navy’s carrier strike group to the Korean Peninsula was announced last Saturday following another North Korean missile test.

USS Carl Vinson was originally supposed to sail for port visits to Australia and was redirected north in response to North Korean actions.

The carrier strike group is composed of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy, and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57).

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Fully armed aircraft from the 18th Wing conduct an elephant walk during a no-notice exercise April 12, 2017, at Kadena AB, Japan. The 18th Wing operates combat ready fleets of HH-60 Pave Hawks, F-15 Eagles, E-3 Sentries, and KC-135 Stratotankers, making it the largest combat-ready wing in the Air Force. The show of force comes as tensions escalate in the region with North Korea threatening another “big event,” possibly another nuclear test in the near future. China on Friday, North Korea’s sole major ally, called “on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage," said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing,

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. The US Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 1, which President Donald Trump called a “powerful armada,” is currently steaming toward North Korea and Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit Seoul over the weekend.

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Jura said:

according to NavalToday Japan plans to join US carrier group heading to North Korea

source:

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Two Japanese destroyers joined up with the Carl Vinson carrier strike group in the Philippine Sea Sunday for renewed bilateral exercises, the Japan-based U.S. Seventh Fleet announced. The Vinson is headed north for the Sea of Japan in an expression of U.S. resolve as North Korea continues to develop offensive ballistic missiles with nuclear capability.

The Vinson, with the cruiser Lake Champlain and destroyer Michael Murphy, was joined June 22 by the Ashigara and Samidare of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, Seventh Fleet said in a press release. The Ashigara, like the U.S. escort ships, is equipped with the Aegis combat system.

Seventh Fleet, in the release, said the joining of forces was a “routine exercise designed to improve combined maritime response and defense capabilities, increase combined maneuvering proficiency, and ensure maritime forces remain ready to defend the region when called upon.”

It’s the fourth time since deploying from San Diego on January 5 that the Vinson has operated with Japanese ships. The carrier most recently exercised with Japanese warships in late March, also in the Philippine Sea, just after concluding three weeks of exercises with South Korean forces during Exercise Foal Eagle.

U.S. Pacific Command announced April 8 the Vinson, which had been in Singapore, would cancel a planned port visit in Australia and return to Korean waters. The strike group carried out abbreviated exercises with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean off Australia’s west coast and by April 15 was headed north, passing through the Sunda Strait between the big Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.

The decision to send the strike group back to Korean waters was made by Adm. Harry Harris, head of U.S. Pacific Command. The move, PACOM spokesman Cmdr. Dave Benham said April 8, was “a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the Western Pacific.

“The number one threat in the region,” Benham said April 8, “continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible, and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.”

Confusion arose around the world when, on April 17,

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the ship had passed through the Sunda Strait, when there had been widespread media speculation the strike group was already nearing Korea. U.S. authorities insist they never issued a timeline for the movements and that there was no deliberate intention to mislead the public.

Harris will be in Washington this week for a round of leadership meetings. He is to appear Wednesday morning before the House Armed Services Committee and Thursday morning at the Senate Armed Services Committee to brief Congress on the military situation in the western Pacific.

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Japan's Largest Warship to Guard U.S. Navy Ship for the First Time
JS Izumo will protect a U.S. Navy supply ship in a move that reflects the tensions in the region.

By Kyle Mizokami
May 1, 2017

Japan's largest warship, a sprawling, aircraft carrier-like destroyer, will protect a supply ship headed to rendezvous with a U.S. Navy carrier battle group. It's the first time a Japanese warship has deliberately protected an American naval vessel.

The warship, JS Izumo, left Yokosuka Naval Base near Tokyo today, May 1st. The ship will escort the supply vessel USNS Richard E. Byrd to meet up with USS Carl Vinson carrier battle group, which is headed from Australia to off the coast of the Korean peninsula.

The deployment is a first for Japan's navy, the Maritime Self Defense Forces. For decades, Japan's constitution forbade the use of the MSDF and other arms of the Japan Self Defense Forces from rendering aid to allies, while at the same time allwing the MSDF to accept help from the United States. The result was a bizarre arrangement in which, for example, American ships could protect Japan but Japanese ships could not protect the U.S. Navy or U.S. territory. This was amended last year by new laws designed to ease the restrictions under which the Self Defense Forces operated.

A so-called "helicopter destroyer," Izumo specializes in anti-submarine warfare. The ship, which was commissioned into service in 2015, outwardly resembles an aircraft carrier and includes a full-length flight deck, elevators, and even an aircraft hangar for storage and maintenance. Izumo is 814 feet long and weighs 27,000 tons fully loaded.

Minimally armed with only three Phalanx CIWS point defense guns and two SeaRAM last-ditch interceptor missiles, Izumo's speciality is carrying SH-60J anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Izumo normally carries seven anti-submarine warfare helicopters, although it can easily accommodate more than twice that number. It can also serve as an amphibious transport, embarking ground troops and transport helicopters, or a platform for minesweeping helicopters. Although it appears similar to an aircraft carrier Izumo and her sister ship, Kaga, cannot carry fixed wing aircraft.

The USNS Richard E. Byrd is a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship assigned to the Military Sealift Command. The unarmed ship carries a variety of provisions to ships at sea, including ammunition, aircraft parts, and other "dry" stores.

North Korea has a large submarine force, consisting of 20 1960s-era Romeo-class diesel attack submarines, 40 Sang-O coastal submarines, and 10 Yeono-class midget submarines. While the subs are not as modern as Western or Japanese models, they could sink a U.S. Navy supply ship. In 2010, a Yeono-class submarine conducted a surprise torpedo attack on a South Korean Navy corvette, sinking it. With the Izumo around, however, it certainly would be tougher.

Source: Nikkei Asia Review

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PanAsian said:

Surprised nothing was posted about this.

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Officials in Japan are weighing arming their fleet of guided-missile destroyers with Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to a report in the Japanese press.

Late last week, the Kyodo news wire quoted a government official who said the Japanese government was interested in acquiring the land-attack strike missiles as a hedge against North Korean missile attacks.

“The government is eager to set aside funds to study the feasibility of acquiring the ability to strike enemy missile sites, and could do so in the draft budget for fiscal 2018, the official said Friday on condition of anonymity,”

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“According to the official, the government is looking to purchase the Tomahawk cruise missile.”

Tomahawks would easily integrate into Japan’s fleet of guided-missile destroyers. Several Japanese Maritime Defense Force ship classes field the U.S.-designed Mk-41 Vertical Launch System cells that can easily accommodate the Tomahawk. How much modification the ships would need to include the necessary mission planning area is unclear.

News of Japanese interest in arming its fleet of guided-missile destroyers with offensive strike weapons comes as Japan continues to refine the interpretations of its pacifist constitution that’s rooted in the idea of self-defense. Since World War II, Japan has pledged not to create an offensive force but field a military that is rooted in protection of its territory.

In January, “Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said a decision to strike enemy launch sites when there is no alternative would fall under the category of self-defense under the reinterpreted war-renouncing constitution,” reported the news wire.

In addition to arming the fleet of destroyers with Tomahawks, reports over the last several months indicate Tokyo may look to other U.S. ballistic missile defense kit to further defend against a North Korean threat.

“North Korea’s provocative acts are reaching levels our country can simply no longer overlook,” a Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) security panel said late March.
“We can’t waste a moment to strengthen our ballistic missile defense.”

Previous systems that have been mention under consideration are the deployment of U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and a Japanese installation of the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system.

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