Remember when Japan used to have Aircraft Carriers?
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With a Wink and a Nod, Japan Has an Aircraft Carrier Again
27 Oct 2021
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin
When Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro returned from his trip to Japan, he fired off a tweet that touted his tour of that country's "Aircraft Carrier Izumo." It was a short comment that recognized an important new naval reality for the longtime ally.
Japan's pacifist constitution meant its naval forces have relied on ships carrying helicopters for self-defense, not fighter jets -- and it avoided using the term aircraft carrier -- since the end of World War II.
Del Toro, whether intentionally or not, gave a public U.S. acknowledgment of a historic shift by Tokyo toward its past as a carrier power. Late in 2018, the Japanese announced plans to refit two helicopter carriers including the Izumo for U.S.-built F-35B Lightning II fighters, part of an increasingly urgent effort to counter growing Chinese sea power.
A Navy spokesman said, "The tweet does not signal a change in how the U.S. officially recognizes the ship."
Japan has a self-defense force, what most outsiders would recognize as a military, but its constitution proclaims that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained," meaning that it has historically avoided any military action or buildup considered offensive.
"Governments have argued that Japan has the right to maintain capabilities and use the 'minimum necessary level of self-defense,'" explained Jeffrey Hornung, a scholar on Japan at Rand Corp. "Historically, anything that exceeds that is considered war potential, and therefore it violates the Constitution."
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Japan is also looking at doing a modernization of this design, with some home-grown changes:
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
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Midway FTW
Four down in one day
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@jolly said in Remember when Japan used to have Aircraft Carriers?:
Japan is also looking at doing a modernization of this design, with some home-grown changes:
Those things are probably a bit too expensive for kamikaze attacks
