Japan’s military training efforts enhanced to defend islands
JAPAN’S Defence Ministry is continuing to bolster its defensive measures on outlying islands, such as the Nansei Islands. Particular efforts are being made to improve the integrated operation capabilities of the three Self-Defence Forces – the Ground Self-Defence Force, the Maritime Self-Defence Force and the Air Self-Defence Force – to coordinate and respond expeditiously.
Next spring, the ministry will establish an Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) specialising in amphibious operations in the GSDF. As China strengthens its maritime advances, expanding defensive measures for outlying islands has become a pressing matter. But there are many issues to deal with. Night raid Under a broad sky full of stars and a veiled moon, darkness spreads over a beach. It is about 2.00am. on Nov 16, and the SDF’s landing drill for amphibious operations has begun on a beach in the southern part of Tanegashima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture.
Landing in a number of small boats, GSDF troops move one after another from the water’s edge onto the beach. The sound of waves drowns out the engines and other noises from the boats, making them inaudible in the surrounding area. The troops quickly move stealthily to higher ground in order to scout out the area and guide subsequent units.
This was part of the SDF’s integrated exercises for this fiscal year: Training for amphibious operations, which have become important for Japan’s outlying island defence. About 300 GSDF personnel and about 360 MSDF personnel took part.
Landing from the boats were members of the GSDF elite force – the Western Army Infantry Regiment ( WAIR) – tasked with island defence. This regiment has already carried out repeated drills simulating the retaking of an outlying island jointly with the US Marine Corps, which has expertise in landing operations, and will become the parent body of the ARDB next spring when it is launched with about 2,100 members. It was the first time that a night-time amphibious operation drill was shown to the press in Japan.
As dawn broke, GSDF transport helicopters, CH- 47, carried troops from the MSDF helicopter- carrrying destroyer Hyuga to land. Upon landing, they immediately positioned 120mm mortars, one of their main firearms, on the ground. From the MSDF transport vessel Kunisaki, a hovercraft – Landing Craft Air Cushion ( LCAC) – landed on the beach and unloaded the vehicles it was carrying. Key to success This bolstering of the defence for Japan’s outlying islands was spurred by the presence of China, which is increasingly making advances into the ocean and repeatedly intruding on territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.
Over 2,500 islands, or about 40 per cent of Japan’s total, are scattered in the Kyushu and Okinawa regions. Particularly among the islands of Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, there are numerous choke points through which Chinese military vessels travel to and from the Pacific Ocean. For this reason, the SDF is placing priority on strengthening defensive measures for the Nansei Islands.
Compared to the mainland, there are a number of difficulties involved in defending outlying islands. First, it is essential to have transport and mobility capacities via sea and air routes over great distances.
Also, as civilian transport is difficult in emergencies, the SDF must transport food and materials to the islands. These circumstances explain why the Defence Ministry is rushing to strengthen mobilisation and deployment readiness on the basis of integrated operations of the three SDFs.
Coordinating the Ground, Maritime and Air self- defence forces is the key to success for operations to retake outlying islands.
When GSDF units try to land on occupied outlying islands, naval bombardments and airstrikes must be carried out on enemy strongholds to avoid being ambushed and ensure the upper hand. Support by the MSDF and ASDF is indispensable.
Last year, the Defence Ministry formed a new transport unit for GSDF troops in the MSDF. The ministry continues to make efforts toward improving integrated operational capacity. In October it built a practice target facility for simulating attacks on enemy strongholds by MSDF ships and ASDF planes, based on information from the GSDF units that have landed. — WP- Bloomberg