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\u003cp\u003eLast month, Japan revealed one of the worst-kept secrets in global naval circles - its two largest warships, the Izumo-class \u0022helicopter-carrying destroyers\u0022, as it has insisted on referring to them, are to all intents and purposes light aircraft carriers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, Japan still fights shy of calling them aircraft carriers. But it has confirmed that it plans to equip them to operate the F-35B, the short take-off and vertical landing, or \u0022jump jet\u0022, variant of one of the world\u0027s most advanced stealth fighters.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe coyness over terminology is not surprising, given Japan\u0027s wartime history and most people\u0027s view of aircraft carriers as the archetypal power-projection tool.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConcern over regional reactions is also why Tokyo has been so reluctant to acknowledge that this development has long been on the cards, not least because of the general trend of growing naval capabilities in the region, and especially the dramatic rise of China as a naval power. Indeed, it has been reported that the Izumos were designed from the outset in the 2000s with the F-35B in mind.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat then are observers to make of Japan\u0027s decision to convert the two destroyers to F-35B carriers? What purpose do they serve?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, it should be noted that carriers come in different shapes and sizes. These ships are not comparable to a US super-carrier, with its multiple squadrons able to launch scores of sorties a day on defensive and strike missions. The Izumo vessels do not have the traditional carrier paraphernalia of catapults and arrester wires for launching and landing aircraft at sea. That is why they are limited to the jump jet F-35B.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the main tasks of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) is to defend the country\u0027s sealanes out to 1,000 nautical miles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the F-35B at sea, the JMSDF will be able to protect itself and Japanese shipping more effectively beyond the range of land-based air cover, against China\u0027s array of aircraft armed with anti-ship missiles and Beijing\u0027s own future carrier-based naval formations. The planes will also be able to support forces on Japan\u0027s remote islands, including, if necessary, as a bomber (the F-35B has just made its debut in that role in Afghanistan, operating from a US Navy amphibious assault carrier).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese attributes inevitably mean it will bring a limited power-projection potential as well. The JMSDF will be able to take air power to sea and, if called upon, operate independently at greater range from the home islands than at any other time in the recent past, pushing the boundaries of what Japan can do just a bit more.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eStrategic messaging\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDepending on events, this may be most valuable in situations short of full-on conflict, when strategic messaging is the priority. Both the Izumos have carried out significant deployments in the past couple of years, including into the Indian Ocean.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring its 2018 deployment, the second ship of the class, JS Kaga, carried out joint exercises with five navies: India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Singapore. The most high-end exercises were conducted with the Indian Navy. These involved anti-submarine warfare, live firing, cross-deck helicopter operations and anti-air threat scenarios.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe messaging may be all the more potent in the future, knowing the ships could be carrying F-35Bs as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut is this worth it, given that this will not be cheap?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA lot may have been done already to prepare the ships to host the new jets. But more modifications will be needed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuying the jets is costly: Japan is aiming for 42 F-35Bs, which cost more than US$100 million (S$135 million) a plane. And Japan has a long list of other expensive defence priorities to meet the challenges from China and North Korea, including hypersonic weapons, ballistic missile defences, electronic warfare systems and cyber defences.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eValue for money?\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd surely aircraft carriers are white elephants now, given their cost and supposed vulnerability with thespread of potent long-range, anti-ship missiles and especially in the age of Chinese \u0022carrier-killer\u0022 missiles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLife is certainly more difficult for carriers now and, indeed, warships more generally. They are having to learn to operate differently, with beefed-up defences.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut, even in today\u0027s world of ever-greater surveillance and information overload, targeting them is more difficult than many detractors would have people believe. China\u0027s carrier-killer missiles are themselves an unproven weapon.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoreover, F-35Bs were built to circumvent contingencies where carriers are taken out of action.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChina\u0027s anti-access, area-denial strategy seeks to deter enemy forces from operating near Chinese waters by targeting their airbases or aircraft carriers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe F-35Bs are built to land anywhere, such as dirt surfaces. US Marines in Japan have been training on Nascar pitstop-style tactics such as \u0022hot loading\u0022 and \u0022hot refuelling\u0022, seeking to refuel and reload bombs onto F-35Bs on dirt surfaces with minimal support infrastructure.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, China itself is also building aircraft carriers. And navies are finding that large ships with long flight decks continue to prove themselves useful and flexible tools in a wide variety of situations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eDouble-edged sword\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdding jets to the Izumos, while pricey, will increase the options open to the JMSDF for using what are already expensive vessels, as well as improve their ability to look after themselves.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn many ways, this is a double-edged sword, as the Izumos risk being pulled in multiple different directions - to hunt submarines with helicopters as originally planned, to defend shipping against air attack, for island defence, and potentially long-range power projection as well. And there are only two of them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaybe that will get planners to start thinking about what might be done with two earlier, somewhat smaller, but otherwise quite similar ships known as the Hyuga class.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParadoxically, given the challenges posed by China\u0027s missile developments, in particular, there is growing interest in boosting carrier capabilities in the region. As well as the United States and China, India is pursuing its ambition to field three carriers. The Americans are also bound to supplement their big Nimitz-class carriers with increasing numbers of F-35Bs on their amphibious assault ships.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSouth Korea is also looking at putting F-35Bs on its amphibious flat-tops. If it were not for the price tag, Australia would no doubt dearly like to do the same. France and Britain are both eyeing deployments of their carriers to the region. All this may ease the path for Japan\u0027s plans.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJapan may have been guilty of a \u0022necessary deceit\u0022 in the way that it has brought these ships into service. It is certainly not the first to do something like this. There are parallels with the Royal Navy Invincible-class light carriers in the 1980s.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the face of anti-carrier sentiment in Whitehall at the time, the Invincibles were originally described as \u0022cruisers\u0022 and slated to carry only helicopters. But the Royal Navy then made the case to buy a small number of Sea Harrier jump jets (the F-35B\u0027s forebear) for limited self-defence against Russian aircraft. HMS Invincible had barely entered service before she was off to help recapture the Falkland Islands. All the ships performed various air policing and power projection missions in the Balkans, the Gulf, Sierra Leone and even Afghanistan in the 1990s and early 2000s. This is not the end of the story by any means for Japan and its Izumos.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis article first appeared on \u003ca href=\u0022https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/japans-aircraft-carriers-white-elephants-or-all-purpose-swiss-knives\u0022\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Straits Times\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","className":"richtext reading--content font-secondary"}), document.getElementById("react_H00iTF9eEiM9UyQVBthpg"))});
\u003cp\u003eAircraft carriers are costly to deploy and vulnerable to a variety of threats. But there is a growing interest in this capability in the Asia-Pacific region.\u003c/p\u003e
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