Japan Doesn’t Know What to Do With Its New F-35 Armed Aircraft Carriers

Michael Peck

Security, Asia

That's a problem.

Some Japanese have a question about their nation’s new aircraft carriers.

What do we do with them?

Japanese officials themselves aren’t sure how to handle the two Izumo-class ships. Ostensibly designated as “helicopter destroyers,” these twenty-thousand-ton vessels look like small aircraft carriers. The problem is that Japan’s highly pacifistic post-World War II constitution arguably prohibits “offensive” weapons like aircraft carriers. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government ordered last year that the vessels be modified to launch ten or so F-35Bs, the carrier-based version of the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter.

But having carriers, and having a defined mission for carriers, is not the same thing. “Along with raising questions over whether the Izumo’s upgrade will remain within the confines of the country’s long-standing ‘exclusively defense-oriented policy,’ there seems to be a lack of consensus about the exact role that’s being plotted for the upgraded ships, aside from countering China,” according to the Japan Times.

Some Japanese defense officials privately told the newspaper what is already an open secret: that Japan wants carriers because of China’s growing military power. “We won’t publicly name any country, but the fact is that the Chinese navy has frequently made incursions into the Pacific Ocean by passing through the Miyako Strait,” the official said. “They’ve become increasingly active (in the Pacific) over the past five years.”

Some Japanese politicians and former military commanders fear that carriers would tempt Japan to pursue aggressive policies. “If the Izumo carries fighter planes, it would allow Japan to be able to stage an overwhelming attack from anywhere on the sea, wouldn’t it?” asked a Communist Party legislator.