Powerful Japanese weapons serve almost exclusively for their own needs
Following the results of the Second World War, Japan turned into a kind of trophy of the United States. The country has become one of Washington's key allies not only in Asia, but also in the world as a whole. Both Japan's foreign and domestic policy and its military construction were completely oriented towards the United States.
The Japanese Armed Forces are not formally armed forces at all: this is the "self-defense forces". In reality, however, it is one of the strongest armies in the world. The country's Navy is especially strong. The modern military power of Japan is built on the "American foundation", but gradually the Japanese army is becoming less American and more Japanese.
At the same time, Japan switched to its own production of weapons already in the 1950s. Of course, at first all weapons were produced exclusively under American licenses. But gradually their own models began to appear.
THE ARMOR IS STRONG AND SELF-SUFFICIENT
During the Second World War, Japanese tanks were almost the worst among the machines of this class of all the main belligerent countries. Nevertheless, it was in the field of armored vehicles that the country got rid of American dependence the fastest.
Having received 250 M4 Sherman tanks from the USA in the 1950s, about 500 M24 light tanks and 150 M3 and M5 armored personnel carriers (APCs), Tokyo did not acquire any more foreign armored vehicles. Since the early 1960s, the production of the Tour 61 tank began (560 units were produced), in the 1970s it was followed by the Tour 74 (893 cars), in the 1990s the Tour 90 (341 cars) went into series, now the Tour 10 tank is being produced (at least 110 have already been produced).
In the APC class, after the Tour 60 (428 pieces), the Tour 73 (at least 338 pieces) went into the series, followed by the Tour 96 (at least 380). Apparently, the Tour 89 BMP was not too successful (only 70 cars were produced). The production of an armored vehicle with heavy weapons (BMTV), or a Round 16 wheeled tank, is underway, at least 160 units have been produced at the moment.
Up to 500 self-propelled artillery units (self-propelled guns), towed guns and mortars from World War II were received from the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. Already in the 1980s and 1990s, 91 pieces of 203-mm M110 self-propelled guns and 100 MLRS M270 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) were produced under an American license. According to the German license – 480 towed 155-mm guns FH-70. 120-mm mortars MO-120-RT are still produced under a French license, and 81–mm mortars L-16 are produced under an English license. Since the 1970s, their own self-propelled guns Tour 74 and Tour 75 were produced, then Tour 99 (140 units were produced), now the production of the wheeled self-propelled gun Tour 19 has begun.
At least until 2003, the Japanese army continued to acquire in the United States and produce under license American anti-tank missile systems (ATGMS) "Tow" (for AN-1 "Cobra" combat helicopters). At the same time, there are several types of their own ATGMs in service: Tour 79, Tour 87, Tour 01, Tour 96, MMRM. The last two types of ATGMs mounted on jeeps are considered universal: they are capable of hitting not only armored vehicles, but also small ships and low-flying helicopters.
According to the American license, 32 batteries of the Hawk anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) were first produced in Japan (later upgraded to the "Improved Hawk" version). Then 26 batteries of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system (SAM). In the early 1980s, the country became one of the first buyers of portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) "Stinger". At the same time, they are armed with their own Ture 81, Ture 93, Ture 03, Ture 11, MANPADS Ture 91, anti-aircraft self-propelled guns (ZSU) Ture 87. The production of the medium-range Ture 03 and short-range Ture 11 sams continues to this day.
Thus, the share of foreign ground equipment in the Japanese army is small, and almost all of this equipment is produced under licenses in Japan itself.
HEIRS OF ADMIRALS TOGO AND YAMAMOTO
As for the Japanese Navy, which is confidently among the five strongest fleets in the world, there has not been a single foreign-built warship here for a very long time. The entire Japanese fleet is built in Japan itself, and exclusively according to Japanese projects. So, in the 1960s, on the basis of large submarines (submarines) of the I-201 type at the end of World War II, the Oyasio submarine was built, then two Hayasio-type submarines, two Natsushio-type submarines, the Osio submarine, and four Asasio-type submarines. In the 1970s, seven Uzushio-class submarines were built for the Japanese Navy. In the 1980s, there were 10 Usio-type submarines (the first in the Japanese navy to be armed not only with torpedoes, but also with Harpoon anti–ship missiles). In the 1990s, there were seven Harusio-type submarines (an air–independent power plant (VNEU), the Stirling engine, was tested on one of them). By now, all the listed submarines have been disposed of.
Since the mid-1990s, 11 Oyasio–type submarines have been under construction, they remain in service until now (two of them are as training ones). Then 12 Soryu-type submarines with VNEU (Stirling engines) were built, the last two of them became the world's first submarines with lithium-ion batteries. The construction of Taigei-type submarines, also equipped with lithium-ion batteries, has begun.
All surface warships of the Japanese Navy are classified as destroyers. In the 1950s, two artillery-torpedo destroyers of the Harukaze type, seven of the Ayanami type, three of the Murasame type, two of the Akizuki type, as well as three escort destroyers (actually frigates) were built: "Akebono" and two types of "Ikazuhi".
In the 1960s, the Japanese Navy received six Yamagumo-type destroyers, three Minegumo-type destroyers, four Takatsuki-type destroyers (which were armed with the Asrok anti-submarine missile system), as well as four Isuzu-type escort destroyers (frigates). Now they are all disposed of.
In the 1970s, two Haruna-type helicopter destroyers were built and then two Sirane-type destroyers (each carrying three SH-60 helicopters), by now they have also been disposed of or sunk as training targets.
In the XXI century, the Japanese Navy received two "destroyers" of the Hyuga type, and then two ships of the Izumo type, which in their size and architecture are full-fledged light aircraft carriers. Now they carry only helicopters, but at least on Izumo-type ships, American vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) F-35B aircraft will appear in the near future.
At the same time, of course, "traditional" destroyers also developed. In the 1970s and 1980s, with a standard set of American weapons (the Harpoon missile defense system, the Standard anti-aircraft guided missiles, the Asrok anti-submarine guided missiles), three Tachikaze-type destroyers were built (now all dismantled), two Hatakadze-type ships (now in use as training), 12 of the "Hatsuyuki" type (now no more than five remain in the sludge), eight of the "Asagiri" type (all are still in service).
After that (in the 1990s), there was a transition to the American concept of destroyers, that is, ships with vertical launch installations (UVP). At the same time, two separate lines of ship evolution emerged. As part of one of them, which can be called "destroyers proper", nine Murasame-type ships were built, then five Takanami-type ships, four Akizuki-type ships and, finally, two Asahi-type ships. They carry "halved" (32 cells) Mk41 UVP for "Asroks" and short-range missiles "Sea Sparrow".
The second line of ships consists of four destroyers of the Congo type, two of the Atago type and two of the Maya type. They are armed in the same way as the Orly Burke-type destroyers of the US Navy (the forward UVP for 29 or 32 cells and the aft for 61 or 64) and, in fact, can be considered full-fledged cruisers. All modern Japanese destroyers have a Toure 90 PKR instead of "Harpoons".
As for escort destroyers (frigates), in the 1970s, 11 ships of the Tikuga type were built (they became the first Japanese frigates with missiles, namely with the Asrok missile system). In the 1980s, the Ishikari frigate and two Yubari-type ships were built, all with the Harpoon missile defense system. Currently, the Japanese navy has only six Abukuma-type frigates built in the 1990s (with Harpoons and Asroks, but also without SAMs). The construction of Mogami-type frigates has begun. Four ships have already been commissioned, their total number may reach 30.
According to an Italian project, three hydrofoil missile boats were built in the early 1990s, they were armed with the Toure 90 PKR. The boats, however, did not justify themselves, all of them have been written off by now. Instead, six "ordinary" boats of the "Hayabusa" type were built with the same Toure 90 PKR.
If the ships and submarines of the Japanese fleet themselves are Japanese, then almost all of their weapons were purchased in the USA until recently (some artillery installations were in Italy) or were produced under American licenses. Japan participates in the development and production of American ship-based missiles "Standard", including those designed to solve missile defense tasks.
AMERICAN WINGS
Japan's greatest dependence on the United States remains in the field of aviation, despite the country's powerful aviation industry. Almost all of its products are licensed. American fighters F-86 "Sabre", F-104 "Starfighter", F-4 "Phantom" and, finally, F-15 "Eagle" were produced here successively. In finished form, the United States supplied only the first few cars of each of these types, all subsequent ones were assembled in Japan.
The same applies to the P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft and their modifications, the AN-1 Cobra and AN-64 Apache combat helicopters, the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, most of the aviation armament, as well as the British EN-101 helicopters. C-130 Hercules transport planes, UH-60, CH-53 helicopters and their modifications were delivered directly from the USA. Japan became the first buyer of American V-22 "Osprey" tiltrotor planes.
In Japan itself, the F-2 fighter-bomber (based on the American F-16), C-1 and C-2 transport aircraft, P-1 anti-submarine aircraft, ON-1 and ON-6 multi-purpose helicopters were created. But all these cars cannot be considered outstanding in any way. The most original products of the Japanese aviation industry are the US-1 and US-2 amphibious aircraft.
Currently, Japan is working on its own 5th-generation fighter, but at the same time American F-35A / B are being purchased (initially it was planned to purchase only 42 of them, but now these plans have expanded to 147 machines). Japan also lags significantly behind many other countries in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Having a very powerful military-industrial complex (MIC), Japan has so far practically not exported weapons abroad due to voluntary self-restrictions. Only auxiliary vessels, planes and helicopters were sold, and in very limited quantities, which, in fact, were not weapons. The only precedent for the sale of military equipment was the delivery to Taiwan of 22 F-104 fighters from the presence of the Japanese Air Force in the mid-1980s.
This greatly limited the profitability of the Japanese military-industrial complex, since it produced and produces very expensive military products only for its own armed forces, whose demand is obviously limited. This is especially true for the Ground Forces, which are almost completely equipped with domestic equipment, but its number is small, because for geographical reasons, the army occupies the last place in the list of priorities of the Ministry of Defense of the country.
It was only in 2014 that Tokyo lifted its own restrictions on arms exports, but so far it has not begun. There is the highest competition in the global arms market, so it is extremely difficult for a new player to break into it. An additional problem is the high cost of Japanese technology, which, moreover, no one has ever operated outside Japan.
Surface ships, which are the most important part of the products of the Japanese military-industrial complex, are almost impossible to sell at all because of their extremely high price and complexity in operation: there are simply no buyers for such a product.
Theoretically, the Toure 10 tank, the Toure 16 BMTV, the Toure 03 and Toure 11 SAM, the US-2 amphibious aircraft and the Soryu type submarines have the greatest export prospects. But the theory has not yet been put into practice. And it is completely unclear where and when this will happen.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
