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''Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force''
海上自衛隊
Personnel
Sailors45,800 (2003 est.)
Strength
Major Surface Combatants119 (2006 est.)
Fixed Wing Aircraft179
Helicopters135


The , or JMSDF, is the maritime branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces , tasked with the naval defense of Japan and formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy after World War II . The force is based strictly on Defensive armament, largely lacking the offensive weapons typically handled by naval forces of equivalent size. Currently, its main tasks are to maintain control of the nation's sea lanes and to patrol territorial waters. Recently it has also stepped up its participation in UN-led Peacekeeping operations (PKOs).

The Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) has an authorized strength of 46,000 and maintains some 45,800 personnel and operates 119 major warships, including twenty Submarines , fifty-three destroyers and frigates, twenty-nine mine warfare ships and boats, nine patrol craft, and nine amphibious ships. It also flies some 179 fixed-wing aircraft and 135 helicopters. Most of these aircraft are used in antisubmarine and Mine warfare operations.1

The Ship Prefix for JMSDF ships is JDS (JMSDF Defense Ship).


HISTORY


Formation


Following the defeat of Japan during World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy was dissolved. In the 1947 Constitution , Article 9 specified that "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes." Over the years, the Japanese people have debated over whether this article allows for military forces to be kept for the purposes of self-defense, with the vast majority agreeing. Furthermore, due to the Cold War , Japan's greatest ally, the United States , was also agreeable to the Japanese government providing for a part of its own defense instead of fully relying on American forces. The JMSDF was then formed as the naval branch of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) following the passage of the 1954 Self-Defense Forces Law.


Cold War

The first ships in the JMSDF were former US Navy destroyers, transferred to Japanese control in 1954. In 1956, the JMSDF received its first domestically produced destroyer since World War II, the Harukaze. Throughout the Cold War, due to the size and power of the Soviet Navy 's submarine forces, the JMSDF was tasked primarily an anti-submarine role. It mainly used its large force of Destroyers , Frigates and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) Helicopter s for this.


Post Cold War

Following the end of the Cold War, the role of the JMSDF has been vastly changed. Starting with a mission to Cambodia in 1993 , it has been active in a number of United Nations -led peace keeping operations throughout Asia. In 1993, it commissioned its first Aegis destroyer, the DD173 Kongō . Following an increase in tensions with North Korea following the 1993 test of the Nodong-1 missile, the JMSDF has also stepped up its role in theater Air Defense of Japan. It has also been active in many joint naval exercises with the United States. During the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom , the JMSDF dispatched a number of its destroyers on a rotating schedule to the Indian Ocean in an escort role for allied vessels.


CAPABILITIES AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

anchored in the Solent, as part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations.]]
While the JMSDF is known in particular for its mineclearing capability, MSDF training also emphasizes both antisubmarine and antiaircraft warfare. Defense planners believe the most effective approach to combating submarines entails mobilizing all available weapons, including surface combatants, submarines, aircraft, and helicopters, and the numbers and armament of these weapons were increased in the Mid-Term Defense Estimate. A critical weakness remains, however, in the ability to defend such weapons against air attack. Because most of the MSDF's air arm is detailed to antisubmarine warfare, the ASDF has to be relied on to provide air cover, an objective that competes unsuccessfully with the ASDF's primary mission of air defense of the home islands. Extended patrols over sea lanes are also beyond the ASDF's capabilities.

The fleet's capacity to provide ship-based anti-air-attack protection is limited by the absence of aircraft carriers. The fleet is also short of underway replenishment ships and generally deficient in all areas of logistic support. These weaknesses seriously compromise the ability of the MSDF to fulfill its mission and to operate independently of the United States Air Force and the United States Seventh Fleet . In August 2003 , a new "helicopter destroyer" class was requested; the size of the class has most MSDF analysts referring to it as a "helicopter carrier" which would place it in the same realm as the British ship HMS Ocean .
class destroyer.]]
Some have argued that a carrier of any sort would be technically prohibited by the Constitution's pacifist elements, as carriers can be considered offensive weapons. In an April 1988 Diet budget session, however, then Defense Agency chief Tsutomu Kawara said that "The Self-Defense Forces are not allowed to possess ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missile), strategic bombers, or attack aircraft carriers." Until the 1970s in the US Navy, large-scale flattops had been categorized as "attack aircraft carriers" and small flattops as "antisubmarine aircraft carriers." Since helicopter carriers have little attack capability and are generally slotted into permitted roles including antisubmarine warfare and transport, the government continues to argue that the prohibition does not extend to the new ship.


ORGANIZATION

The MSDF is commanded by the chief of the maritime staff and includes the maritime staff office, the self-defense fleet, five regional district commands, the air-training squadron and various support units, such as hospitals and schools. The maritime staff office, located in Tokyo , serves the chief of staff in command and supervision of the force. The self-defense fleet, headquartered at Yokosuka , is charged with defense of all waters around the Japanese Archipelago. It commands four escort flotillas (two based in Yokosuka and one each in Sasebo and Maizuru), the fleet air force headquartered at Atsugi, two submarine flotillas based at Kure and Yokosuka, two mine-sweeping flotillas based at Kure and Yokosuka and the fleet training command at Yokosuka.2 See section 2: "The Self Defense Forces"



Each Escort force is formed as an 8-8 fleet of 8 destroyers and 8 on-board helicopters, a modification of the old Japanese Navy fleet layouts of 8 battleships and 8 cruisers. Each force is composed of one helicopter destroyer (DDH) acting as a command ship, two guided-missile destroyers (DDG) and 5 standard or ASW destroyers (DD).


District Forces

Five district units act in concert with the fleet to guard the waters of their jurisdictions and provide shore-based support. Each district is home to a major JMSDF base and its supporting troops and staff. Furthermore, each district is home to one to two regional escort squadrons, composed of two to three destroyers or destroyer escorts (DE). The destroyers tend to be of older classes, mainly former escort force ships. The destroyer escorts, on the other hand, tend to be purpose built vessels. Each district also has a number of minesweeping ships.

Fleet Air Force

The Fleet Air Force is tasked with patrol, ASW and rescue tasks. It is composed primarily of 7 aviation groups. Prominent bases are maintained at Kanoya , Hachinohe , Atsugi , Naha , Tateyama , Oomura and Iwakuni . The Fleet Air Force is built up mainly with patrol aircraft such as the Lockheed P-3 Orion , rescue aircraft such as the US-1A and helicopters such as the SH-60J . In the JMSDF, helicopters deployed to each escort force are actually members of Fleet Air Force squadrons based on land.

Special Forces


Special Forces units consist of the following:





RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING


MSDF recruits receive three months of basic training followed by courses in patrol, gunnery, mine sweeping, convoy operations and maritime transportation. Flight students, all upper-secondary school graduates, enter a two-year course. Officer candidate schools offer six-month courses to qualified enlisted personnel and those who have completed flight school. Graduates of four-year universities, the four-year National Defense Academy , and particularly outstanding enlisted personnel undergo a one-year officer course at the Officer Candidate School at Etajima (site of the former Imperial Naval Academy). Special advanced courses for officers are also available in such fields as submarine duty and flight training. The MSDF operates its own staff college in Tokyo for senior officers.

The large volume of coastal commercial fishing and maritime traffic limits in-service sea training, especially in the relatively shallow waters required for mine laying, mine sweeping and submarine rescue practice. Training days are scheduled around slack fishing seasons in winter and summer—providing about ten days during the year. The MSDF maintains two oceangoing training ships and conducted annual long-distance on-the-job training for graduates of the one-year officer candidate school.3 See section 2: "The Self Defense Forces"


JMSDF FLEET

in '', '' JDS Murasame '', '' JDS Ikazuchi '' and '' JDS Hamagiri '']]


Guided Missile Destroyers (DDG)




Destroyers (DD)




Helicopter Destroyers (DDH)




Destroyer Escorts (DE)




Submarines (SS)



Amphibious Forces



Minesweepers



Future Ships




AIRCRAFT


  ! Style "text-align: left background: #aacccc"Origin
  ! Style "text-align: left background: #aacccc"Type
  ! Style "text-align: left background: #aacccc"Versions
  ! Style "text-align: left background: #aacccc"In service"World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, '' Aviation Week & Space Technology '', January 15 2007
  ! Style "text-align: left background: #aacccc"Notes
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/AgustaWestland_EH101" class="copylinks">AgustaWestland EH101 <hr> Naval helicopter MCH-101 2 14 ordered, deliveries underway
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Beechcraft_King_Air" class="copylinks">Beechcraft King Air Utility transport King Air C90 31
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Fuji_T-5" class="copylinks">Fuji T-5 Trainer 35
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Learjet_35" class="copylinks">Learjet 35 VIP transport Learjet 35A 4
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Lockheed_P-3_Orion" class="copylinks">Lockheed P-3 Orion Maritime patrol<hr>ELINT P-3C<hr>EP-3C 80<hr>5 Built by Kawasaki
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/MD_Helicopters_MD_500" class="copylinks">MD Helicopters MD 500 Utility helicopter OH-6D<hr>OH-6J 5<hr>4 Built by Kawasaki
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/NAMC_YS-11" class="copylinks">NAMC YS-11 Utility transport YS-11T 10
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/ShinMaywa_US-1" class="copylinks">ShinMaywa US-1 Patrol flying boat US-1A 7
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Sikorsky_S-61_Sea_King" class="copylinks">Sikorsky S-61 Sea King Transport helicopter S-61A 3 Built by Mitsubishi
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Sikorsky_S-70" class="copylinks">Sikorsky S-70 Naval helicopter<hr>Transport helicopter SH-60J<hr>SH-60K<hr>UH-60J 32<hr>3<hr>19
  "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Sikorsky_S-80" class="copylinks">Sikorsky S-80 Minesweeping helicopter MH-53E 10