JS Izumo is one of the two JMSDF helicopter destroyers being modified to operate F-35B STOL fighter aircraft. © JMSDF
Japan’s Naval Force Projection By David Oliver For the first time, Japan’s 2019 Defence White Paper indicated that China is bigger threat than North Korea. The focus of Japan’s concern has been what it calls the Senkaku Islands. Japan says they are sovereign territory but China, who calls them the Diaoyu Islands, also claims them. The rocky islands are approximately 900 kilometres (560 miles) from the Japanese mainland and 410 kilometres (255 miles) from the nearest Japanese air base on Okinawa.
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apan has raised defence spending by ten percent over the past seven years to counter military advances by Beijing and Pyongyang, including defences against North Korean missiles which may carry
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nuclear warheads, but to stay ahead of China’s modernising military Japan is expanding its naval aviation capabilities by acquiring new fighter, reconnaissance and unmanned aircraft and other advanced weapons.
