#Japan modern warships free

As of 2022, the JMSDF operates a total of 155 vessels (including minor auxiliary vessels), including four helicopter destroyers ( or helicopter carriers), 36 destroyers, 10 small destroyers ( or frigates), two frigates, six destroyer escorts ( or corvettes), 22 attack submarines, 30 mine countermeasure vessels, six patrol vessels, three landing ship tanks, 8 training vessels and a fleet of various auxiliary ships. The JMSDF is one of the world's largest navies and the second largest navy in Asia in terms of fleet tonnage.

ships performing in those waters to then, therefore, deploy someplace else.”įelix Kim is a FORUM contributor reporting from Seoul, South Korea.List of active ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is a list of ships in active service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

#Japan modern warships free

“By having the Aegis destroyers and bolstering the BMD network,” Hornung said, “this may then free up U.S. The personnel requirement could see Tokyo raise the military retirement age from 53-56 to 55-58 by fiscal 2028, Japan’s JIJI news agency reported. In addition to radar, each ship would carry SM-3 missile interceptor batteries and a crew of 250. The destroyers would be the largest in Japan’s fleet, reported Forbes magazine. “They need to maintain a robust ballistic missile defense system,” he said. Plans call for the ships to house the Lockheed Martin SPY-7 radar systems purchased for the now-shelved Aegis-ashore missile bases. “By having the ability to put them on a ship and move them around, you have survivability there with those assets.”Ĭancellation of Japan’s planned Aegis-ashore BMD capability due to environmental and safety concerns prompted the need for the two additional destroyers, Hornung said. The enhanced Izumo-class destroyers, Hornung added, promise to give Japan the capability to defend its airspace even if its air bases on land, such as those at Naha and Kyushu, are destroyed. (Pictured: The JS Kumano, an FFM destroyer, is docked at the Mitsui shipyard in Tamano, Japan.) As a multipurpose frigate, the FFM enables Japan to decommission aging minesweepers and destroyer escorts while introducing advanced technology. Its reduced personnel requirements help reconcile the declining headcount within Japan’s military. “So, they look at the qualitative element, trying to get better ships, more versatile ships.”Ĭentral to this approach is the FFM, Hornung explained. “Japan knows they are never going to quantitatively match China,” Japan defense analyst Jeffrey Hornung of the Rand Corp. FFM and Izumo-class destroyers will enable an “enhanced steady-state ISR in the waters around Japan,” the white paper stated. The PRC has been projecting force in waters around Japan, particularly near the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands, which the PRC claims. The new destroyers are needed to defend against possible missile attacks from North Korea or the People’s Republic of China (PRC), according to the white paper. Japan’s Defense Ministry recently proposed building two destroyers for ballistic missile defense (BMD), adding to the fleet of eight Aegis-equipped BMD destroyers. Two Izumo-class destroyers, originally built as helicopter carriers, are being upgraded to carry as many as 28 aircraft: 12 F-35Bs, eight V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and eight anti-submarine warfare or search and rescue helicopters. Japan will build two of the next-generation multifunction future multi-mission frigate (FFM) destroyers each year until 2032 to conduct surveillance, patrol and anti-submarine and anti-mine warfare, according to Japan’s 2020 defense white paper. Japan is expanding and enhancing its destroyer fleet to deter and defend against threats to its territory and to give the United States more leeway to execute other priorities such as freedom of navigation operations, analysts said.