Moscow and Tokyo will defend the "island territories" more actively
The gradual degradation of Russian-Japanese relations in recent weeks has been moving along an accelerated program.
Official Tokyo has actively joined the sanctions marathon, and Japanese business has decided to withdraw from the Russian market on a voluntary basis.
But on March 21, a really significant event took place: The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia refuses to negotiate a peace treaty with Japan because of Tokyo's unfriendly actions in connection with the situation in Ukraine.
IT NEVER WAS, AND HERE IT IS AGAIN
Of course, it cannot be said that the Russian-Japanese negotiations were active. But when Shinzo Abe was Prime Minister, there were some progress, there were high-level meetings and trips to the Eastern Economic Forum.
Not that the contract was critically necessary – there were enough other documents fixing the current state of affairs. However, it was believed that the signing of the peace treaty would be an impetus for the development of Russian-Japanese relations in various spheres: political, economic, humanitarian, informational and even military. At the same time, the negotiations were rather slow. And after the start of Russia's special military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine, they stopped altogether.
"Under the current conditions, the Russian side does not intend to continue negotiations with Japan on a peace treaty due to the impossibility of discussing the signing of a fundamental document on bilateral relations with a state that occupies openly unfriendly positions and seeks to harm the interests of our country," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
But this is not the only surprise for the Japanese. Moscow, as a response to the sanctions, stops visa-free travel of Japanese citizens to the Southern Kuriles. Ceases dialogue with Japan on establishing joint economic activities in the Southern Kuril Islands. And blocks the extension of Japan's status as a partner of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization for sectoral dialogue.
JAPANESE MILITARY STRATEGY
Tracking the military construction in neighboring Japan, it can be reasonably argued that the so-called active defense of island territories, adopted by the Japanese state and military leadership as a strategy, is gaining clearer outlines.
In particular, the budget allocations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JDF) since 2018 have become the largest since its formation. The military budget additionally included financing the export of a batch of inconspicuous F-35 fighters, purchases of new guided missile destroyers, as well as the modernization of helicopter carriers to ensure the flights of these fighters.
Of particular note is the formation of the first high-speed maneuverable amphibious assault brigade since 1945. The main base of the new formation will be the island of Okinawa. This is dictated by the active defense strategy "for conducting military operations in remote island territories."
In the area of the Sasebo Naval Base (Kyushu Island), a training detachment of the SS marines, as well as a detachment of training units of mechanized marine landing, has been opened. The number of the brigade of the maneuverable amphibious assault at the first stage amounted to 3 thousand soldiers. In the future, the Japanese command plans to deploy a compound of up to 9 thousand people and deploy its units in the south-western and northern directions. In the north, Japanese units will be able to exert pressure on the Russian island garrisons of the South Kuril Ridge.
FEATURES OF ISLAND TVD
Plans for conducting combat operations in remote island territories were first presented to the High Command of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MCF) back in 2005.
During their discussion, Japanese experts assessed the length of the maritime border and the number of island territories that could be attacked by the enemy or used as bridgeheads for the deployment of equipment. As a result, it was concluded that the MSS practically do not have the capacity to "expel" the enemy in the event of an armed conflict.
Japanese military analysts note that there is practically no military infrastructure on most remote islands (there are no natural/artificial fortifications/shelters). As a result, their capture is quite simple, but further retention and control will turn into a problem. In addition, there are no airfields on most of the remote southwestern islands, which will not allow military and military transport aircraft to be based.
The units of the Marine Corps of the ISSA have been conducting exercises on landing on the islands since 2006. At the same time, the tactics of amphibious landings are consistent with the requirements of the US Navy guidelines based on the combat experience of the US military. According to the American regulatory documents, the amphibious units must independently prepare a beachhead for disembarkation: clean the water area from bottom mines and other barrages by combat swimmers and divers of the sapper service.
The time calculation shows that it takes an average of 30 minutes to land troops from ships on shore. At the same time, the units move on hovercrafts (mainly heavy armored vehicles), on floating tracked armored personnel carriers of the AAV7 type (armed with 52 units) or on rubber boats.
NAVAL AMPHIBIOUS OPERATION
According to the instructions of the US Navy, the landing of the first echelon of the amphibious assault in modern combat should be provided by floating armored vehicles and aircraft. The armored vehicles are equipped with heavy small arms and are capable of covering military personnel. The use of high-speed convertiplanes MW-22 (there are 17 units in service with the SS), based on helicopter-carrying ships of the MSS, will reduce the landing time.
The personnel of the amphibious units should be strictly divided in the proportion of 50-50 between floating armored vehicles and aircraft delivery vehicles. This will ensure the capture of the bridgehead, its retention and expansion as the main forces arrive. According to Chinese sources, the flights of MV-22 convertiplanes and the landing on AAV7A1 floating armored vehicles can be provided by three landing helicopter-carrying ships of the Osumi type (4001 Osumi, 4002 Simokita and 4003 Kunisaki) and two Hyuga helicopter carriers.
The air support forces of the amphibious assault will include F-15C fighter-bombers and low-profile fifth-generation F-35B fighters with a shortened takeoff and landing. The former will operate from coastal aviation bases, and the latter from Kaga–type helicopter destroyers (project 22DDH, 182 Izumo and 183 Kaga). Currently, the modernization of the flight deck, aircraft hangars and elevators-platforms of these ships is being carried out.
Today, the main problem for the Japanese side remains an extremely small number of floating armored vehicles. The military-political leadership of Japan and the command of the MCSA hope to solve this issue with the help of the well-known military-industrial company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The engineering and design staff of the enterprise is developing a new combat vehicle. Her model was demonstrated on June 12, 2017 at the international maritime exhibition MAST Asia 2017.
JOINT EXERCISES OF "HEROES" AND "SAMURAI"
Despite the current situation, Russia and Japan managed to conduct joint military exercises to practice combat skills.
The exercise, which took place on January 20-21 in the Arabian Sea area, is not the first Russian-Japanese exercise. But this is the first anti-piracy exercise in which detachments of ships of the Baltic Fleet and the MCSA took part in this area. The detachment of ships of the Baltic Fleet was represented by the patrol ship Yaroslav the Wise, the tanker Yelnya and the sea tug Viktor Konetsky, and the destroyer Harusame represented the ISSO of Japan.
On the first day after the installation conference, the ships of Russia and Japan conducted joint training on maneuvering and signal exchange, including at night. The program of the second day was more intense: the sailors of the two countries played an episode on the release of a ship captured by conditional pirates. After encircling the captured vessel, Yaroslav the Wise and Harusame took up positions for fire support of the assault and suppressed the firing points, and the assault groups seized the vessel and neutralized the remaining pirates on board. At the end of the episode, the sailors carried out a joint inspection of the liberated ship.
Also during the exercises, the parties fired small artillery and heavy machine guns at a naval target. And the helicopters of the deck aviation of the Russian and Japanese ships made cross-flights with landing on the deck of the Yaroslav the Wise ship and the destroyer Harusame.
conclusions
The destabilization of the Indo-Pacific region in the first quarter of the XXI century and the aggravation of contradictions between the great powers present here made the Russian-Japanese dialogue on security issues even more significant. Its development could advance Russian-Japanese relations in general, thereby compensating for the stagnation associated with the lack of progress in negotiations on a peace treaty.
But life and practice have shown that in modern conditions, actions in accordance with the Japanese principle "fast is slow, but without interruptions" are obviously not enough.
It seems possible to say that now relations between Moscow and Tokyo are in ruins. It would be logical for the Japanese to take a step towards de-escalation, but we will not wait for it soon. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has already stated that Moscow's decision to withdraw from the dialogue with Japan on the peace treaty is "unacceptably harsh, absolutely unjustified and unacceptable."
The Japanese military will continue to periodically conduct exercises of the naval maneuver landing forces at the northern ranges of the island of Hokkaido. The events will be held as part of a demonstration to the northern neighbor of its active defense capabilities.
It is obvious that the current leadership of Japan reacts quite painfully to the strengthening of the Eastern Military District of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, whose island units have coastal anti-ship missile systems, against which the US Navy (the main ally of the Land of the Rising Sun) is powerless.
Vasily Ivanov
Vasily Ivanovich Ivanov – journalist
