Japan is an island country, naturally attaches importance to the development of the navy, especially hope to develop aircraft carrier forces, but there is no way to openly develop, for this reason Japan adopted a roundabout tactic, first built the so-called helicopter destroyer, and then in addition to the landing ship, built 3 Osumi class, and the aircraft carrier design is not essentially different, and later built a helicopter aircraft carrier, and the aircraft carrier is quite few. After years of hard work, Japan has accumulated 7 aircraft carriers, and now it intends to upgrade the quasi-aircraft carrier to a light aircraft carrier, and suddenly build itself into the "second aircraft carrier power". Unfortunately, Japan has always faced an insoluble problem, lacking fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft.
Izumo number
Although Japan's aviation technology level is not low, it is still an impossible task to develop a fixed-wing fighter that can be used on aircraft carriers. Now the United States has taken the initiative and has promised to provide F-35B carrier-based aircraft. In this way, the Japanese dream has come true! You can upgrade your own quasi-carrier to a light carrier! Japan no longer has ships without machines, and in the future, ships will also be organic.
The F-35B procurement project has been licensed by the United States, and now it is delivered to the door, and the F-35B has been provided for on-board testing and trial on a Japanese quasi-aircraft carrier, waiting for Japan to receive the first aircraft.
F-35B
The Japanese aircraft carrier Izumo arrived at Iwakuni Base on September 30, where the U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Squadron is stationed in Japan, and two squadrons are stationed in Japan. Izumo has operated for the F-35, marking the flight deck and flight path, and adding a heat-resistant coating. On October 3-7, the U.S. F-35B will conduct operational tests aboard the Izumo and conduct maritime exercises.
The current Izumo has not completed all the modification work and is not expected to be carried out until 2025, involving the addition of a ski-jump take-off deck to the bow and the reconfiguration of the interior, allowing them to fully operate the F-35 and become a truly light aircraft carrier. Now the United States supports Japan to form a "second aircraft carrier power", and at least 4 of the existing 7 quasi-aircraft carriers have the value of modification, which can currently rank second in the world in terms of number. Then Japan's military strength has definitely grown a lot, at least it is also an "Asian aircraft carrier power", so "Asian aircraft carrier power" will be deserved? Answer: Don't be optimistic.
The US military boarded the ship for inspection
Don't think that there is much impact, Japan's quasi-aircraft carriers have been upgraded to aircraft carriers, and they are only light aircraft carriers, and their capabilities are still very limited. At present, the Izumo can only carry about 12 F-35Bs, and can only carry this fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft, lack of support early warning aircraft, and there is no dedicated attack aircraft, which is very different from the regular large aircraft carriers of other countries. It can only be said that the problem of existence and non-existence is solved, and if you want to achieve qualitative improvement, you must build a larger aircraft carrier platform, a goal that will take many years to achieve.
The U.S. Military is ready to use the F-35B on board
Japan is developing, others are not idle, in the end whose strength can lead is still an unknown, first do not rush to brag about how Japan is, perhaps more noteworthy is: what does the United States really want? The United States is quite generous to Japan, obviously for the purpose of utilization, absolutely not simply to support Japan's development of military strength, a little loose chain meaning, but also the same intention of letting the tiger return to the mountain, can the United States still control Japan in the future? A question worth thinking about!