Japan Rearming
2006-12-16
Posted by: badanov
We have stated in the past that the Chinese Navy is a force in search of a doctrine.
It is all well and good to have the capacity to form battalion after battalion of cannon fodder, arming every other one with a rifle and a clip and sent them against the foreign devils, but those concepts won't quite work with a Navy.
China is building its navy at what should be an alarming rate, as we should be as well but aren't. The only good thing to come out of this arms race is the inevitable one: China cannot hope to apply its massive force doctrine on the water. Seven hundred boats armed with advanced missile and 1960s technology is just 700 targets for the US Navy.
Enter the Japanese, a large military even though they haven't up until now called it that, now have the last vestige of a civilized nation: a defense department charged with warmaking duties that every democracy should have.
Japan developed its own naval doctrine, which was for a time devastatingly effective against the US Navy, if short sighted. And now all those writings and all those specifications can be brought out dusted off and updated for a more modern and enlighted time for Japan.
For Japan, their mission is clear. North Korea will attack the US in the future and will use nukes and Japan is in the line of fire. An active Japanese naval presense in the region will go a long way towards blunting the ambitions of the Chinese and the North Koreans. The Japs know how to hurt big and they have shown they have the will to launch sneak attacks.
Will we see big CVNs like the Nimitz class named the Hiryu and the Akagi in what's left of our lifetime?
What knows, but you can bet in whatever form the Japanese Navy takes they will be s signifigant block against China and North Korea for the foreseeable future.
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