Text | Hearing the sound of the green tree
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Sources: All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is detailed at the end of the article
After World War II, Japan performed well in the economic, scientific, technological, and cultural fields, but it was only militarily sluggish.
Of course, treaties such as the Potsdam Proclamation are unlikely to allow Japan to develop militarily.
In April 2024, Japan wanted to "show" its military strength and hold a small exercise, but two helicopters had an accident during training. Many people are very surprised by this: how much Japan's armaments are so depleted?
Wrecked helicopter
On the evening of April 20, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force sent two helicopters to carry out a training mission in the eastern Izu Islands.
But at about 10 p.m., a helicopter suddenly disappeared, and about a minute later, the helicopter sent an emergency signal to the Japanese military, and then completely lost contact, and then another helicopter also disappeared.
From the night of the 20th to the 21st, Japan launched an emergency search and rescue of two helicopters, but only one body was found, and the whereabouts of the remaining seven people are still unknown. In addition to this, Japan also found some aircraft wreckage and flight recorders.
At the time of the incident, there were no ships or planes of other countries in the surrounding waters or airspace. Therefore, the fall of these two helicopters cannot be done by other countries, and the cause can only be found from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
According to the representative of Japan, the reason why the two helicopters lost contact and crashed was inseparable from the weather conditions in the sea area at that time.
On the night of the 20th, the weather conditions in the Izu Islands were very poor and the visibility was very low, and the pilots could easily lose sight of the direction, and the two helicopters could collide and crash because the flight recorders of the two helicopters were not far apart.
For more specific reasons, Japan needs to analyze the flight recorder to come up with.
Immediately after the accident, representatives of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force apologized to the public and mourned for the deceased pilot, and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara also expressed his sadness and apologies for the incident in front of a group of reporters.
In addition to his statement, Minoru Kihara also promised the public that the Self-Defense Forces will strictly review all aircraft and pilots, and will ensure the safety of pilots to the greatest extent possible and will not let such a tragedy happen again.
However, many people speculate that the Japanese helicopter crash was not the cause of the pilot, but the problem of the helicopter, and the type of helicopter that had the accident had a bad "record".
Possible causes
According to Japanese media reports, the two helicopters that crashed were both Japanese "Sea Hawk" SH-60K, the prototype of which was the "Black Hawk" helicopter of the US military.
But at the beginning of 2024, the U.S. military's Black Hawk helicopter also crashed in California.
This helicopter has good anti-submarine and anti-ship capabilities, so it is very popular with Japan's "weapon", and after obtaining the production authorization, Japan imitated the "Black Hawk" structure and built a total of 73 "Sea Hawks", all of which were assigned to the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
In fact, before this accident, Japan's "Sea Hawk" had a history of crashing. In 2023, the head of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and several Self-Defense Force soldiers will take the "Sea Hawk" helicopter to Miyako Island for reconnaissance.
Shortly after takeoff, the plane plunged headlong into the sea, killing the regiment commander and the Self-Defense Forces.
Now, with two Seahawks in accidents at the same time, the Japanese military has to revisit this helicopter: is the "Seahawk" helicopter really safe enough?
In fact, there were far more Japanese plane crashes than these two incidents. In August 2017, a Japanese SH-60J helicopter crashed in a mission, and in January 2022, even a Japanese fighter F-35 crashed!
In 2024, a Japanese fighter plane crashed into the sea near Ishikawa Prefecture, and there was even an accident in which a passenger plane collided with an anti-submarine aircraft!
A series of tragedies have shown that there must be some problems with the planes of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, otherwise there would not have been so many crashes in recent years. And these events illustrate one point: Japan's armaments have been depleted.
Scrapped armaments, tough mouths
No matter what its military strength is, Japan's "declaration" to the outside world is quite tough, and it often flaunts the banner of the "China threat theory" and makes some harsh remarks against the mainland.
For example, on April 19 this year, Japan once again claimed that it would intervene in the mainland's Taiwan Strait issue. However, this kind of remark is still a bit of a deterrent for the United States, and for Japan, it will really be "nonsense," and no one will take what Japan says seriously.
The reason is very simple - the Japanese Self-Defense Forces really don't have that strength, they can't even complete their own exercise tasks, and they still want to meddle in the affairs of other countries?
In 2020, the world's military investment totaled US$1,973.3 trillion, with the United States spending more than US$700 billion and China nearly US$250 billion, accounting for more than half of the world's military spending.
Japan has only 49 billion yuan, which is on par with South Korea, and with such a low military expenditure, it is naturally impossible to have much military strength.
In addition, Japan and South Korea are both half a pound in terms of the number of tanks, helicopter gunships, and artillery, as well as the number of fighters, the number of troops, and the strength of their navy.
The two countries are extremely dependent on the US military, and they are not at all independent militarily, so they really cannot talk about the combat effectiveness of the armed forces.
What's more, since World War II, Japan has not fought for 70 or 80 years, and the only major military action is to rescue the Fukushima nuclear power plant. In the same way, it is reasonable that there are problems with Japanese aircraft.
Today, Japan's demographics no longer support Japan's military development. The elderly over 65 years old in Japan account for 28.4% of the whole society, and according to the total population of Japan, there are more than 35 million elderly people in the country!
Corresponding to the aging population is a very small number of young people, and Japan's young soldiers are already seriously insufficient, and it is about to reach the point where "there are almost no soldiers who can resist the enemy." The loss of every pilot is very painful for Japan!
What is even more "pitiful" is that since 2013, the number of emergency takeoffs and interceptions of Japanese fighters has increased from more than 300 to more than 900, and the Japanese pilots are so tired that they can't bear it and even offer to resign.
Japan's armament has reached such a point that no matter what tough words or arrogant words the Japanese side makes, the mainland will not take it to heart, but will look at it with sympathy: It is really not easy for members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces.
The successive crashes of Japanese helicopters seem to be a problem with fighter planes, but in fact they are the relaxation of Japan's armaments, and Japan is no longer able to attach importance to its military.
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