Japan today exhibits a growing need to upgrade her defence and surveillance capabilities to meet the demands of a troubled security environment.  China is increasingly figuring as its dominant threat perception. This prospect is troubling Japan’s life-lines for import of energy and raw materials flow of her reprocessed goods, run parallel and at time perilously close to the Chinese littoral.

Parallel with this concern is the growing bipartisan call for Japan to play a more active role in United Nations peace-keeping. (not limited to logistics support only) and in regional security.  Both Japanese Prime Minister Mori and the leader of the Democratic Party Yukio Hatoyama made these calls at the beginning of this year.

It is against this background, that Japan’s defence plans for upgradation of both its defensive and surveillance capabilities were approved with little domestic political opposition.  Major improvements in Japan towards this effort are outlined below. 

The Japanese Government approved the new five year plan for upgradation of capabilities in end-December 2000.  Allocation for this plan stand at Y25 trillion or $ 223 billion approximately.

Major acquisitions planned are :

·                     Aircraft In-flight Re-fuelling tankers –4

·                     Long –range transport aircraft – Unspecified number

·                     Naval combat ships (AEGIS Class Destroyers ) –2

·                     Helicopter– carrying ship

·                     Advanced Missile defence systems – Unspecified number.

In terms of new organisational features, the plans include

·                     Creation of an air-transportable brigade

·                     Creation of a ‘Special Force’ to deal with terrorism.

·                     Enhancement of Information Technology (IT) assets and capabilities of the Japanese armed forces.

The most significant acquisition planned is that of In-flight Refueling Tankers.  Japan has a fleet of 200 F-15 fighter/interceptors and 100 P3C maritime surveillance aircraft.  It is learnt that Japanese capabilities for surveillance of sea-lanes without re-fuelling presently limited to 2 hours would, get upgraded to 6 hours, which is a significant force multiplier. 

The acquisition of long-range transport aircraft seems to be linked to with the creation of an air-transportable brigade. Japan was always alive to terrorist threats.  The creation of a new ‘Special Force’ to deal with terrorist threats would indicate more aggressive action against this threat and possibly ‘hostage-rescue’ capabilities.

Additional acquisition of AEGIS Class destroyers could be linked to the establishment of an effective missile defence system and form the nucleus of the TMD system.

While Japan views the upgradation of the present capabilities in defensive and surveillance terms related to its sea-lanes defence, China can be expected to be hyper-critical and give it an offensive colouration.

Japan, as a small island nation, with its economic survival solely dependant on its sea-lanes, can ill-afford to be oblivious to potential threats to its security.  Defence and surveillance of sea-lanes is dependant on long-range air-force and navy capabilities.  The current upgradations seem to be focussed on these.

As per the provisions of the US-Japan Defence Guidelines, while United States is obliged to aid Japan in the event of a threat, Japan is obliged to undertake the defence of sea-lanes upto a distance of 1600 km from the Japanese home-land. The present plan seems to be tailored towards enhancement of relevant capabilities.

While Japan would like to emphasise that her defence upgradation plans are linked  to  the defence of sea-lanes, it cannot escape the reality that Japan’s defence transcends more than the sea-lanes. It has to take care of the emerging China threat – China’s  growing nuclear and missile build-up and its hidden agenda of expelling the US forward military presence in the Western Pacific.