Second of MSDF’s largest warship comes into service

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
March 22, 2017 at 16:40 JST


The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s large destroyer Kaga is commissioned in Yokohama on March 22. (Eiji Hori)

YOKOHAMA--The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kaga helicopter carrier, its joint-largest warship, was commissioned here on March 22.

The ceremony to deliver the new destroyer to the Defense Ministry was held in a Yokohama shipyard that day.

The Kaga is 248 meters long, equivalent to the Izumo, which went into service in 2015, and has five helipads.

According to the MSDF, the Kaga’s construction costs totaled about 120 billion yen ($1.1 billion). It will be deployed to the No. 4 Escort Flotilla, based in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture.

The Kaga can carry 14 or more helicopters, which will mainly patrol for submarines. Those patrol helicopters will search for Chinese submarines, which are becoming difficult for Japan to detect due to improvements in their capabilities.

The Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft that is scheduled to be introduced by the Ground Self-Defense Force can also land on and take off from the Kaga.

The MSDF now possesses four helicopter carriers: the Kaga, the Izumo and two 197-meter-long destroyers.


The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s new destroyer Kaga is commissioned in Yokohama on March 22. (Eiji Hori)


The new Maritime Self-Defense Force’s destroyer Kaga is 248 meters long, equal to the Izumo. (Eiji Hori)

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ...703220067.html

Japanese navy boosts overseas force projection capability with second big helicopter carrier

Reuters
Posted at Mar 22 2017 02:01 PM


Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's (JMSDF) latest Izumo-class helicopter carrier DDH-184 Kaga (L) is seen next to JMSDF's helicopter carrier Izumo after a handover ceremony for the JMSDF by Japan Marine United Corporation in Yokohama, Japan, March 22, 2017. Toru Hanai, Reuters

YOKOHAMA - Japan's second big helicopter carrier, the Kaga, entered service on Wednesday, giving the nation's military greater ability to deploy beyond its shores as it pushes back against China's growing influence in Asia.

Accompanied by a military band, Maritime Self Defence Force commanders took possession of the 248 metre (813.65 ft) long vessel at the Japan Marine United shipyard in Yokohama near Tokyo, where it was docked next to its sister ship the Izumo.

"China is attempting to make changes in the South China Sea with bases and through acts that exert pressure is altering the status quo, raising security concerns among the international community," Vice Minister of Defence Takayuki Kobayashi said at the ceremony attend by about 500 people

Japan's two biggest warships since World War Two are potent symbols of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to give the military a bigger international role. They are designated as helicopter destroyers to keep within the bounds of a war-renouncing constitution that forbids possession of offensive weapons.

In its biggest show of naval power in foreign waters in more than 70 years, Japan plans to dispatch the Izumo in May on a three-month tour through the South China Sea, sources with knowledge of the plan told Reuters earlier.

China claims almost all the disputed waters through which around $5 trillion of global sea-borne trade passes each year. Beijing's growing military presence there has fuelled concern in Tokyo and Washington.

Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei also claim parts of the sea which has rich fishing grounds, oil and gas deposits. Japan has no claims there, but is locked in an territorial dispute with China over a group of islets in the neighbouring East China Sea.

The addition of the Kaga means Japan will be able to mount overseas operations more often in the future. It will be based in Kure western Japan, which was home to Japan's most famous World War Two battleship, the Yamato. The Izumo operates from Yokosuka near Tokyo, which is also where of the U.S. Seventh Fleet's carrier, the Ronald Reagan is based.

The Japanese ships can operate up to nine helicopters each from their decks. They resemble the amphibious assault carriers used by U.S. Marines, but lack their well deck for launching landing craft and other vessels.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/...copter-carrier