Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

JS Izumo ( Image credits- Wikimedia commons/ Dragoner JP) During his visit to San Diego, Itsunori Onodera, Japan's defense minister, inspected US amphibious assault ships, indicating Japan may be mulling introducing the ships to defend the disputed Diaoyutai (Senkaku or Diaoyu) islands against a potential attack from the People's Liberation Army, according to the Tokyo-based Kyodo News. The website of China's nationalistic Global Times, on the other hand, stated that Japan is buying military equipment under the guise of concerns over the disputed East China Sea islands, while in reality they are using this as an excuse to equip the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force at a time when Japan's government has reinterpreted its pacifist postwar constitution to loosen the country's restrictions on the use of its armed forces. Onodera was reportedly very interested in amphibious assault ships, saying that they are useful in disaster rescue missions. The Wasp-class a

RQ-4 Global Hawk ( Pic courtesy- Wikimedia commons/US Navy) With additional North Korean saber-rattling on Saturday and China  pushing against its South China Sea boundaries  last week, Japan and the U.S. have announced a plan to increase drone patrols over North Korea and the East China Sea  starting later this month . The U.S. will deploy two Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles from Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture, and the Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces plans to acquire three of those same UAVs from 2015. While the Japanese procurement  and the  stationing of both countries UAVs  in Misawa have been known since January this year, regional tensions have prompted officials to be more vocal about their intended use. A senior Self-Defense Force official said the drones, “will be effective in surveying the activities of North Korea and the Chinese military.” North Korea has been threatening a new round of nuclear tests since March, and on Saturday through its official KCNA

Image courtesy- Reuters/ Toru Hanai U.S.-Japan naval cooperation has long been recognized as the critical core of the U.S.-Japan security relationship; the navies’ success in rebuffing the Soviet naval threat in the 1980s is legendary. The successful cooperation between the U.S. Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) even helped to buoy the broader alliance relationship, which was suffering at the time from trade-related and other economic challenges. The key elements that were so important to the naval relationship—strategic clarity, definitive roles and missions, and operational engagement—emanated from a strong and committed security alliance. As preparations are finalized for U.S. President Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to Japan, a reminder of what made these two navies so successful during a strategically challenging period of history can provide useful lessons. Today, the two navies once again find themselves on the front lines in the Asia-Pacific region as