Japan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

SamuraiBlue said:

Which has nothing to do with JSDF.
Post it in the politics thread.

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They should have sailed to Hawaii and done some fighter launch exercises as a demonstration of force.LoL

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Japan Unveils Armored Vehicle Prototype for 'Counter Island Invasion'
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January 13, 2017 (Photo Credit: Japanese Ministry of Defense)
MELBOURNE, Australia — Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) has unveiled a prototype eight-wheel drive armored personnel carrier (APC) as part of a research project for a new class of modular vehicles.

The project, known for now as the Wheeled Armoured Vehicle (Improved), will eventually lead to a new vehicle type to replace the Type 96 eight-wheel drive armored personnel carrier in use by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).

The new vehicle will feature improved protection against a variety of threats such as improvised explosive devices, versatility and room for future growth in capabilities compared to the Type 96 it is replacing. It will also be fitted with a more powerful engine and a strengthened suspension to cope with the increased weight and payloads.

In a news release, Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) announced that the prototype was handed over on Jan. 10. Built by Japan’s Komatsu Limited, the vehicle is 8.4 meters (27 feet) long, 2.5 meters (8 feet) wide and 2.9 meters (9 feet) high, with a weight of approximately 20 ton. It can carry 11 onboard including three crew members in its basic APC guise.

An ATLA spokesperson told Defense News that the engine onboard the prototype is a 10.8 liter diesel engine capable of developing approximately 500 horsepower (372.8 kilowatts), allowing the vehicle to attain a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) on paved roads.

The ATLA spokesperson has also revealed that the rear compartment will be modular in nature, with swappable mission modules fitted on the vehicle as required by the mission. In addition to the basic APC variant, a communications support vehicle as well as an engineering variant were shown on the video released by ATLA.


Japanese MoD budget documents indicate that 4.7 billion yen (US $41 million) had been earmarked to produce the prototype and conduct trials, with manufacturing starting in 2015. Trials with the prototype are expected to last until 2019.

Tokyo-based defense analyst James Simpson expects full-scale production to start following the trials, also noting that the Japanese MoD will be looking to fit the new vehicle with a remote weapon station currently being developed.
It is envisaged the new vehicle will equip JGSDF combat and combat-support units for peacekeeping operations as well as what the ministry terms “counter island invasion” scenarios, with obvious inference to taking back Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea against an invading force.

Japan has revamped its defense posture in recent years, with an increased emphasis on a more “dynamic deterrence based on a reorientation southwards in terms of geographic focus” as opposed to the previous policy of “static deterrence based on an evenly spread distribution or slight northern bias for force and equipment deployment,” according to Corey Wallace, a security policy analyst at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at Freie Universitat Berlin.

Wallace added that this shift in posture can also be seen in Japan’s recent acquisition of AAV-7 amphibious troop transports from the United States and development of the wheeled Type 16 Maneuver Combat Vehicle. Japan will also formally establish an Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade in 2017 and is acquiring Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to support the new unit.

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The election of Donald Trump as president followed by his “America first” pledge in his inaugural address shocked Japanese political and business leaders, causing them to wonder about the future value of the Washington-Tokyo security and economic alliances.

Toshiro Nakayama, a professor at Keio University, said in answer to a question at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event Tuesday, “We have to be forward leaning in choosing the United States” as its strategic partner.

Like the other three panel members, he said at the Washington, D.C., think tank, the biggest continuing worry for Japan is the rise of China. In Asia, “Japan may be the only country saying no” to China’s vision of the region. The United States’ presence was a counterbalance to those ambitions.

Nakayama said the Trump presidency throws into question seeing the relationship as “sort of an alliance of co-equals,” as it has developed since the 1990s. It “is not a stand-alone alliance” but applies to the whole region and is based on shared values of democracy, human rights and rule of law.

Several panelists noted values were not mentioned in the inaugural address.

Japan also stepped up its presence internationally by having its self-defense force operate in the Indian Ocean as well as Afghanistan and Iraq from 2005 on, as did NATO in operating far from Europe and considering members not on the continent.

Candidate Trump said NATO members and Japan and Korea needed to do more to provide for their own security and questioned the continued relevance of these multi-national agreements.

Yoichi Kato, a senior research fellow at Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, of “serious concern” in Japan is the possibility Trump “could cut a deal with China ignoring Japan, like [President Richard] Nixon did” in establishing relations with Beijing in the 1970s.

He described the emerging Trump foreign policy as “prioritizing individual interests over common values.” In a way, it resembles that of China in pursuing common interests over values with other nations.

The “‘America first’ policy is all about retrenchment” of the United States from maintaining the international order that includes the U.S.-Japan and NATO alliances that has existed since the end of World War II, Ken Jimbo, an associate professor at Keio University said.

In light of this change, “we [Japan] need cross-referencing with Europe” on countering Russian aggression and Europe needs to understand China’s territorial and economic ambitions in the Asia-Pacific.

In answer to a question, Jimbo said, Japan views Russia as a significant power in Asia. “Something we want to avoid is Russia-China entanglement” in their pursuing common security goals such as missile defense or regional economic groupings. “Russia doesn’t like to pivot to Asia through China,” giving Japan a role to play.

On the economic front with Trump’s withdrawing from the TransPacific Partnership [TPP], Japan probably will work out a bilateral trade arrangement with the United States, but it could take four years to iron out the details, Takashi Terada, a professor at Doshisha University, said. That agreement, in his view “would keep some option for the U.S. to come back” to TPP.

Other economic courses it could follow would be to push for a TPP without the United States or look to larger regional trade agreements involving Russia, China and other Asian-Pacific nations.

The choices for Japan on security come down to internal balancing meaning building up its military capacity, seeking alliances with mid-sized powers such as Australia and Korea, accommodate Chinese ambitions or “keep on hugging the U.S.,” Kato added.

Japan “has no other choice” but to keep on hugging, he said.

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US, Japan conduct successful missile interception test
By Brad Lendon, CNN
Updated 3:39 AM ET, Mon February 6, 2017

(CNN)The US and Japan have passed a crucial test for missile defense, shooting down a medium-range ballistic missile with a new interceptor launched from a guided-missile destroyer.

The US Missile Defense Agency announced that the USS John Paul Jones detected, tracked and took out the target ballistic missile using its onboard Aegis Missile Defense System and a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor.

The test took place Friday night off the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

"Today's test demonstrates a critical milestone in the cooperative development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile," the director of the Missile Defense Agency, Vice Adm. Jim Syring, said in a statement.
"The missile, developed jointly by a Japanese and US government and industry team, is vitally important to both our nations and will ultimately improve our ability to defend against increasing ballistic missile threats around the world."

The test came while new US Defense Secretary James Mattis was on his first overseas trip to South Korea and Japan. Ballistic missile defense was at the top of the agenda after North Korea's prolific testing of short- and intermediate-range missiles last year.

And the US is worried that North Korea may be developing a long-range missile that could carry a nuclear warhead to reach as far as the US West Coast.

A focus of Mattis' trip was the THAAD -- Terminal High Altitude Area Defense -- anti-missile system, which the US plans to deploy in South Korea this year.

The THAAD system has drawn sharp criticism from China, which sees it as part of a broader US strategy to extend its military alliance network from Japan all the way down to the South China Sea.
But during his trip to South Korea, Mattis said North Korea's "provocative behavior" was the only reason THAAD would be deployed. "There is no other nation that needs to be concerned about THAAD other than North Korea," he said.

Though THAAD and Aegis operate on a similar concept, it's THAAD that has drawn vocal Chinese opposition.

Asked Monday about the Aegis system missile test, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said all such systems raised trust issues among the major military powers.

"Countries should not only consider their own security interests but also respect other countries' security concerns" when it comes to missile defense, Lu said. "We should follow the principles of preserving global strategic stability and doing no harm to other countries' security."

The Aegis system is designed to intercept ballistic missile around the middle of their flight, when the missile is at its highest point above the Earth.

The system is based on the powerful AN/SPY-1 radar, which can track 100 missiles simultaneously.
The US Navy has 22 guided-missile cruisers and 62 guided-missile destroyers equipped with the Aegis system. Japan has six Aegis destroyers with plans for more. South Korea also operates Aegis-equipped destroyers.

CNN's Steven Jiang in Beijing contributed to this report.

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