Japan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

climax said:

Defense Industry of Japan to exhibit for the first time at Eurosatory Defense & Security Exhibition.

Japanese defense industry will exhibit their latest innovations and technologies of military equipment at the Defense & Security Exhibition Eurosatory 2014, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe eases curbs on the nation's weapons exports. Fourteen Japanese firms, including wartime Zero fighter maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, will attend Eurosatory, many of them participating in the first Japanese pavilion.

Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe

Still, the debut marks a significant step after Abe last month eased the government's strict curbs on arms sales abroad, seeking to fortify ties with allies and bolster Japan's defence industry as he pursues a more muscular military and diplomatic role for the country.

Tapping foreign markets and joining international development programmes would allow Japanese arms makers to build bigger lots at a lower unit cost and help the government cut procurement costs as Abe reverses a decade of military budget cuts.
The defense exhibition Eurosatory, held every two years, runs from June 16 to June 20 in Paris and bills itself as the "largest international land and air-land defence and security exhibition."
Japanese exhibitors will include Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, which build planes, submarines and helicopters for the Japanese military, electronics giant NEC Corp, a major maker of military communications equipment, and industrial conglomerates Hitachi Ltd and Toshiba Corp..
They will be joined by around 1,400 exhibitors from Europe, the United States, the Middle East and elsewhere displaying products ranging from tanks and missiles to unmanned aerial vehicles and body armour.

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Well, now they come, I think most of their potential product for export is non-lethal like C-2 transport aircraft, P-1 MPA, US-2 flying-boat, ....

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SamuraiBlue said:

Looking at the names of exhibitors I believe they will place various radar systems and communication systems on display as well.

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Jeff Head said:

The current JMSDF combat fleet consist of the following:

04 x DDH carriers
-- 01 x Izumo
-- 02 x Hyuga
-- 01 x Shhirane
03 x LPD amphibious ships
-- 03 x Osumi
26 x DDG destroyers
-- 02 x Atago
-- 04 x Kongo
-- 02 x Hatakaze
-- 04 x Akizuki
-- 05 x Takanami
-- 09 x Murasame
17 x FFG frigates
-- 08 x Asagiri
-- 03 x Hatsuyuki
-- 06 x Abukuma
16 x SSK subs
-- 05 x Soryu
-- 11 x Oyashio
29 x MCM Mine Warfare
-- 02 x Uraga
-- 03 x Yaeyama
-- 02 x Enoshima
-- 03 x Hirashima
-- 12 x Sugashima-
-- 05 x Uwajima
-- 02 x Ieshima
06 x PG Guided missile Patrol Boats
-- 06 x Hayabusa

That's 101 modern combat vessels.

I believe that is also one of the largest mine warfare fleets amongst the western alliances.

The JMSDF right now is building the 2nd Izumo and five more Soryu, and definitely budgeting for and planning the first two of the 25DD ASW DDGs, and two more Atago style AEGIS DDGs. That will add ten more vessels in the next four-five years. There continues to be talk about an aircraft centric falt top, but I have not seen anything in the budgets to date for it.

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SamuraiBlue said:

Although you are right about future procurement plans of ships, there will be number of ships that will retire as those new ships comes online namely the Shirane class, the Hatakaze class, the Hatsuyuki class and some Asagiri class as well.
You can construct ships relatively in a short time but training the crew takes a lot longer and I do not think JMSDF has that many new recruits waiting in line.

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Minister of Defense Onodera has informed Governor of Aomori Prefecture that F-35As will be stationed at Misawa JASDF base. After the press conference Onodera reveals that about 20 units will be stationed at Misawa.

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Japan to station first F-35s at Misawa Air Base

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera has announced that the first Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters to enter Japanese service will be based at Misawa Air Base (AB) in northern Japan.

Onodera said on 25 June that the first four F-35s will be deployed to the base during fiscal year 2017 (FY17), with around 20 of the aircraft eventually stationed there.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force plans to acquire 28 F-35A conventional take-off and landing aircraft in the next five years, according to the Mid-Term Defense Program (FY14-18) that was adopted in December 2013, with a total of 42 eventually planned.

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By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is poised for a historic shift in its defense policy by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two, a major step away from post-war pacifism and a big political victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The change will significantly widen Japan's military options by ending the ban on exercising "collective self-defense", or aiding a friendly country under attack. It will also relax limits on activities in U.N.-led peace-keeping operations and "grey zone" incidents short of full-scale war, according to a draft government proposal made available to reporters.

For now, however, Japan is likely to remain wary of putting boots on the ground in future multilateral operations such as the 1990-1991 Gulf War or the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, activities Abe himself has ruled out.

The change will likely rile an increasingly assertive China, whose ties with Japan have chilled due to a maritime row, mutual mistrust and the legacy of Japan's past military aggression, but will be welcomed by Tokyo's ally Washington, which has long urged Japan to become a more equal partner in the alliance.

Abe's cabinet is expected to adopt as early as Tuesday a resolution revising a long-standing interpretation of the U.S.-drafted constitution to lift the ban after his ruling party finalizes an agreement with its junior partner.

Legal revisions to implement the change must be approved by parliament and restrictions could be imposed in the process.

"If this gets through the Japanese political system it would be the most significant change in Japan's defense policy since the Self-Defense Forces were established in 1954," said Alan Dupont, a professor of international security at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

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