Japan to get first post WW-II aircraft carriers

Tokyo, December 18 

Japan will get its first aircraft carriers since World War II and buy dozens of fighter jets under a new defence plan approved on Tuesday that is intended to counter China’s growing military power.

The new five-year defence plan calls for the upgrade of two existing helicopter carriers so that they can launch fighters, and is the latest in a series of steps under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to boost Japan’s military.

Abe’s government argues the efforts are necessary given growing defence challenges in the region, including tensions with North Korea, and particularly “strong concerns” about the expansion of China’s military footprint.

But the move is controversial, with critics arguing it shifts Tokyo further away from its commitment to strictly defensive capabilities under Japan’s post-World War II pacifist constitution.

“We will secure both the quantity and quality of defence capability that is necessary... to meet the rapidly changing security environment,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular press briefing on Tuesday.

“We believe this is within... what is allowed under the constitution.” The five-year plan approved today assumes record defence spending of $244 billion through March 2024.

It calls for the defence ministry to upgrade two flat-top Izumo-class destroyers to enable them to launch fighters with short take-off and vertical landing abilities, like the F-35B stealth fighter.

Abe has campaigned for years to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution, arguing that it ties the hands of the country’s Self-Defence Forces even in protecting the country’s allies from attack.

Government officials were at pains to make clear the policy did not represent a shift away from the country’s long-standing focus on defence.

The remodelled ships and new fighter jets will “increase operational flexibility” for Japan as China boosts its naval footprint in southern waters that are home to several remote Japanese islands, a defence official said. — AFP

Expanding defensive capacity

• In a separate plan also endorsed by the cabinet on Tuesday, Japan said it would buy 42 F-35s over the next decade, with the F-35B variant widely considered the likeliest candidate
• It also plans over the same period to buy 105 F-35As, a variant of the advanced jet which performs conventional takeoffs and landings and cannot be used on the retrofitted destroyers. Local media have said the purchases could total more than one trillion yen ($8.8 billion)