Japan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

joshuatree said:

Cool tidbit.....wonder what the range is with 3 gas turbines on a 250 ton vessel.

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climax said:

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MCV with OD color (this vehicle has a very impressive shape):

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US Seeks Greater Missile Defense Cooperation By Japan, South Korea
May. 28, 2014 - 02:51PM | By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE |

FILED UNDER
World News
Asia & Pacific Rim
WASHINGTON — A top US military official on Wednesday called for better missile defense cooperation between Japan and South Korea, in the face of strained ties between America’s two closest Asia allies and a belligerent North Korea.

“We’re encouraging our allies and partners to acquire their own missile defenses and to strengthen regional missile defense cooperation that will result in better performance than individual countries acting alone,” said Adm. James Winnefeld, vice-chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff.

“We will continue to emphasize the importance of developing regional ballistic missile defense systems,” Winnefeld said during a speech at the Atlantic Council think tank.

“This is a very politically sensitive topic for several of our regional allies, but progress in this area would only increase our confidence in the face of persistent North Korean provocations,” Winnefeld said.

“This is about ensuring we can deny the objectives of any insecure authoritarian state that believes acquisition of deliverable weapons of mass destruction is key to the preservation of its regime.”

Winnefeld said that in terms of weapons capability Pyongyang poses the greatest threat, “followed by Iran.”

His appeal comes with relations between Seoul and Tokyo at their lowest level in years, strained by Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea and a territorial dispute over islets in waters between the two countries.

Despite those regional tensions, Washington likely will “come to rely more” on its Asian allies “to resource the means for their defense,” the admiral said — especially “in a world of declining budgets.”

North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program is a major security concern in the Pacific region and beyond.

Despite international isolation and extensive sanctions, Pyongyang appears to be readying a fourth nuclear test, observers have said.

While it’s among the states most concerned about North Korea, resource-poor Japan has maintained friendly relations with oil-rich Iran through its years of ostracism, keeping up a diplomatic dialogue during Tehran’s decades long confrontation with Washington.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is weighing a plan to deploy an advanced missile-defense system in South Korea, one that could intercept short, medium and intermediate missiles.

The anti-missile system THAAD, short for Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, is similar to one deployed by the United States to protect bases in its territory of Guam.

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steven Warren, said Wednesday that while THAAD is “a very capable system ... as of today, there’s been no decision” by Seoul or Washington to deploy a battery in South Korea.

Winnefeld argued that a regional approach to missile defense could help spread the costs, noting that a single THAAD missile interceptor costs around $11 million compared to $3 million for a Scud, North Korea’s preferred missile.

Meanwhile, Winnefeld said the United States will deploy an additional TPY-2 radar in Japan by the end of 2014 “to both improve our homeland and regional defense capabilities.”

He added that the United States is also continuing to operate the Sea-based X-Band Radar (SBX) “as needed in the Pacific” and is planning to deploy a new, long-range radar for the Pacific region around 2020.

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Abe To Put Forward Japan as Counterweight to China
May. 29, 2014 - 01:41PM | By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE | Comments
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JAPAN-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY-ABDUCTION
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is surrounded by reporters May 29 at his official residence in Tokyo. (Jiji Press / Getty Images)
FILED UNDER
World News
Asia & Pacific Rim
TOKYO — Japan’s prime minister will lay out a vision of Tokyo as a counterweight to the growing might of China this weekend, at a major security forum set to be dominated by escalating regional disputes.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will tell the so-called Shangri-La Dialogue that Japan and its partner the United States stand ready to jointly bolster security cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported.

He will stop short of singling out China, the paper added, but there will be little doubt about where he thinks the blame lies for the various rows in the South China Sea, and in Japan’s own battle with Beijing over East China Sea islands.

Abe will likely “announce his aim to play more active roles in Asia by using the Japan-US alliance as the foundation,” said Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University.

The nationalist premier has set about reshaping the rules of engagement for Japan’s powerful, though little-used, military as he pushes a doctrine he has dubbed “proactive pacifism.”

He has offered support — both practical and rhetorical — to Manila and Hanoi, in the form of coastguard vessels and public pronouncements.

Both are engaged in corrosive territorial rows with Beijing, and both are heavily outgunned by China, whose military has enjoyed double-digit budget rises annually for more than a decade.

Abe will be hoping that other countries in the region will see that succor as a sign of Japan’s willingness to engage, offering them an alternative to Chinese power from the only country with the military clout.

No Abe Meeting With Xi
During his keynote speech Friday which kicks off the three-day Asia Security Summit in Singapore, Abe will urge China to respect the rule of law, Kyodo News said, at a time that the impression is growing in the region that the world’s number two economy is becoming increasingly assertive.

Abe will call for “constructive discussions,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, to take the heat out of rows that pit China against a number of ASEAN countries, as well as Tokyo against Beijing.

“Considering the heightening situations in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, we hope that various constructive discussions will take place toward this region’s peace and safety” at the forum, he said.

Since coming to power in late 2012, Abe has assiduously courted ASEAN, visiting all 10 member countries at least once.

He has still not been to China, nor met with Xi Jinping, its president.

Some ASEAN members have been bolder than others in standing up to China; Vietnam and the Philippines have both proved willing to push back, despite their relative military weakness.

Others have been less keen to put their heads above the parapet for fear of angering Beijing.

'Extremely Dangerous Act'
China, which insists it owns virtually the whole of the South China Sea, prefers to tackle ASEAN members individually so that it never faces a bloc-wide response to its claims to islands far from its shores.

The most volatile of the rows involving China escalated Tuesday when Hanoi claimed a Chinese vessel had rammed and sunk a fishing boat near a drilling rig in contested waters.

No one was hurt in the incident, but it was believed to be the first sinking since ships from the two sides started dueling over the area several weeks ago.

Suga said if the reports were true, the ramming was an “extremely dangerous act.”

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Tuesday, Abe said Beijing’s “unilateral drilling activities” for oil in waters claimed also by Hanoi have led to a “heightening of tensions.”

“We will never tolerate the change of status quo by force or coercion,” Abe told the paper.

Beijing shot back, arguing that Japan had stirred up trouble in the South China Sea during World War II and should mind its business.

“Japanese leaders like to make an issue of China’s force,” said a foreign ministry spokesman on Tuesday. “The force we have is a wave of positive energy that promotes world peace, stability and development.”

Much of Asia — save China and the Korean peninsula — appears at ease with a more engaged Japan, but Abe must face down opposition at home for plans to allow his armed forces to help allies under fire — something barred under current interpretations of Japan’s constitution.

But while he may be pushing against an open door with ASEAN, he would be wise not to push too hard and make member nations feel they were being asked to choose between Tokyo and Beijing, warned Sophia University’s Nakano.

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climax said:

Some of Japanese advanced missile products:


MCV with OD color (this vehicle has a very impressive shape):

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U.S. deploys first advanced drones to Japan
May. 30, 2014 - 09:39AM |

By Eric Talmadge
The Associated Press
FILED UNDER
News
Military Technology
MISAWA AIR BASE, JAPAN — The U.S. Air Force has deployed two of its most advanced long-distance surveillance drones to a base in northern Japan over the past week, enhancing its ability to monitor nuclear activities in North Korea and Chinese naval operations.

The deployment of the two unarmed Global Hawk drones to Japan, a key U.S. ally, is intended to demonstrate Washington’s commitment to security in Asia as part of its rebalancing of forces to the Pacific. But it will likely rankle with China and North Korea, which have been working to improve their own unmanned aircraft fleets.

Lt. Gen. Sam Angelella, commander of U.S. Forces Japan, said Friday the drones will remain here until October, when the typhoon season on the drones’ home base on the Pacific island of Guam is over. Similar rotations from Guam to Misawa are expected in the future, though Angelella said no firm plans have been made. He refused to comment on the specific missions the drones will carry out but noted that the Global Hawk’s “capabilities are well known.”

The drone is considered particularly valuable because it can conduct long-range missions without the limitations of pilot fatigue, is able to fly at a maximum 60,000 feet (18.3 kilometers) and can “loiter” around any particular site of interest for 24 hours or more.

From Japan, it can easily monitor areas on the Asian mainland — including North Korea’s nuclear sites — or targets at sea — such as areas where China and other countries have had confrontations over territory.

The military keeps much of the Global Hawk’s work secret, but Angelella spoke of its use in humanitarian missions including Japan’s 2011 tsunami and the devastating typhoon that hit the Philippines last year. More recently, he said, the drone was used in surveillance work following the mass abduction of more than 300 girls in Nigeria by Islamic extremists.

The deployment of the drones will also help Japan familiarize itself with the aircraft. Tokyo plans to buy three Global Hawks.

Angelella said the aircraft has proven itself to be one of the most reliable in the Air Force. While still under development, the Global Hawk began supporting overseas contingency operations two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. As of September last year, it had surpassed 100,000 flight hours, three-quarters of which were performed in combat.

Safety is a key factor in Japan because many U.S. bases here are located in heavily populated areas.

Under a mutual security pact, the U.S. maintains about 50,000 troops in Japan, which is home to several major air bases, the headquarters of the U.S. 7th Fleet and more than 10,000 Marines.

Though some residents of the city of Misawa have raised concerns about the drone deployment, opposition has been notably muted compared to the often emotional and deep-rooted protests against the deployment of new aircraft or troops on the southern Japan island of Okinawa, where most of the U.S. military in Japan is based.

But the deployment comes at a politically sensitive time.

Tokyo is now hotly debating a significant revamp of the role of its military forces, which have since World War II been rebuilt and are now one of the strongest in Asia, though they remain restricted to a narrowly defined strategy of national defense.

Citing the perceived threats from China and North Korea, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is championing an effort to change that and allow the Japanese military to be able to fight more closely with U.S. troops in contingencies.

Abe’s focus has been on what the Japanese military should be allowed to do when an ally defending Japan comes under attack — what the Japanese call collective self-defense. But opponents fear loosening restrictions will open the door for the Japanese military to be drawn into broader U.S. conflicts that don’t have a direct connection to Japan’s national defense.

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DA NANG, Vietnam (June 6, 2014) The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force amphibious tank landing ship JS Kunisaki (LST 4003) approaches the port of Da Nang, the first stop for the ship during Pacific Partnership 2014. Pacific Partnership is in its ninth iteration and is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photos by Lt. Jesus Uranga/Released)

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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DA NANG, Vietnam (June 6, 2014) Capt. Brian Shipman, left, mission commander of Pacific Partnership 2014, & JMSDF Captain Matsui answers questions at a press conference in Da Nang, Vietnam. Pacific Partnership is in its ninth iteration and is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Greg Badger/Released[/FONT]

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