By PAUL KALLENDER-UMEZU
TOKYO — Japan’s efforts to boost its military capabilities focus too much on big-ticket items, leaving operational gaps and undercutting how defense forces can effectively utilize their equipment, analysts said.
Following the December release of its National Security Strategy, the National Defense Program Guidelines laid down five- and 10-year targets for force structure and procurement so that Japan will set aside ¥23.97 trillion (US $232.1 billion) over the next five years to fund military expansion.
Reflecting a growing concern about China and possible threats to Japan’s Nansei Shoto (southern island chain), nearly half of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Forces (GSDF) will be reconfigured for rapid deployment.
To deter invasion or to recapture that string of small islands that stretches southwest of Okinawa to within a few dozen miles of Taiwan, the GSDF will buy 52 amphibious landing vehicles, giving Japan its first postwar amphibious capabilities. It also will boost its mobility by buying 17 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft from the US, along with 99 locally produced maneuver combat vehicles.
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