By Logan Williams, Warrior Contributor
On December 25th, Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) released photographs of its “new aircraft carrier,” the JS Kaga. This is part of Japan’s defensive overhaul which has led to the largest Japanese defense budget in recent history, at least since World War Two.
The JS Kaga’s displacement reaches a high of 27,000 long tons with a full load, and it has an 814-ft flight deck. As such, the JS Kaga isn’t an aircraft carrier in the way that it is often imagined or portrayed in films; it is in no way comparable to the USS Ford or the USS Nimitz, both which have a displacement of over 100,000 long tons and largely operate as sea-going airfields. These are America’s supercarriers, most often used for the United States’ long-term, long-haul power projection needs; the JS Kaga is far more comparable to the USS America or the USS Wasp, correctly called an “amphibious assault ship” in the United States’ nomenclature. The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force has shown no interest in owning a supercarrier, like the United States’ supercarriers, because such vessels are viewed as offensive weapons, possession of which is forbidden by Japan’s post-World War Two constitution.
This is an exceptionally important distinction, because amphibious assault ships are designed with drastically different capabilities and intent than traditional supercarriers. Amphibious assault ships have very little to contribute to the problem of sustained power projection, rather, they are intended to be used as mobile command centers for amphibious assault operations, as sea-lift and deployment vessels for marine expeditionary or naval infantry forces, and as a support mechanism – largely air support – for deployed marine forces. This function is the reason that the United States’ Wasp-class and America-class amphibious assault ships are designed with well decks, a deck near the water line which can be flooded to launch or receive amphibious assault landing craft for the transportation of the troops and supplies needed for an amphibious assault.
Unfortunately, as a retrofitted helicopter destroyer, the JS Kaga lacks the key functionalities delivered by a well deck. It is interesting to note that the United States’ America-class amphibious assault ships were originally designed without a well deck, functionally transforming it from a amphibious assault ship into a landing platform helicopters (LPH) vessel, however, this key functionality was quickly restored. Military leadership protested the use of the America-class without a well deck, because the LPH experiment had proven disastrous in Lebanon during the 1970s, when U.S. Marines were prevented from deploying from the LPH due to the threat posed to helicopters by enemy anti-aircraft capabilities — the Marines had to be transferred to another amphibious assault ship with a well deck to deploy using amphibious assault landing craft. This is especially important, because if any geopolitical competitor is likely to field overwhelming airspace anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities, it is the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
As a converted helicopter destroyer, the JS Kaga can field helicopters or aircraft with STO/VL (short take-off and vertical landing) functionality, such as the V-22 Osprey or the F-35B – of which Japan is the largest international customer, according to Lockheed Martin – but not traditional fixed wing fighter jets such as the F-35A, the F-35C, the F-16, the F-22, etc. The JS Kaga is much smaller than the America-class and the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships, each which have a displacement of over 40,000 long tons; however, the America-class and the Wasp-class both have a flight deck of approximately 844-feet, comparable to the JS Kaga’s flight deck of 814-feet. The JS Kaga purportedly exceeds the America-class and the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships in aircraft carrying capacity; both of the United States’ vessels can carry 20 aircraft, whereas the JS Kaga can carry up to 28 aircraft.
In size and functionality, the JS Kaga is likely best compared to the Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ships, which also lacked a well deck, that were first commissioned in the 1960s and were completely decommissioned by 2002. The Iwo Jima-class was succeeded by the Tarawa-class, which was succeeded by the Wasp-class, itself succeeded by the present America-class amphibious assault ship.
Video … Can the US Deter China From Attacking Taiwan?
As an amphibious assault craft that lacks key amphibious assault functionalities, the JS Kaga is, indeed, likely to be used as a light aircraft carrier, to assist Japan in protecting national interests in its near abroad, such as by deterring the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its baseless claims upon the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands and in other areas of the “South China Sea.” These amphibious assault ships can be used to place aircraft within the vicinity of these disputed islands, allowing for the scrambling of aircraft in response to immediate threats, a faster deployment than what is presently enabled by its land-based Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) bases.
Similar amphibious assault ships have also been used by the United States to perform lower-priority operations, such as Operation Odyssey Lighting in 2014, in which the USS Wasp was used as a command center from which to launch strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets (ISIL; a.k.a, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – ISIS) in Lebanon. Re-locating a traditional U.S. Carrier Strike Group and its supercarrier might be overkill for these operations.
The production of the JS Kaga, ostensibly, is far more important symbolically than it is strategically. Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, written in 1946 immediately following World War Two, is an outdated article which forbids Japan from possessing offensive weapons, constituting a standing army, navy, or air-force, and participating in offensive warfare. The creation of the JS Kaga is a symbolic rejection of these pacifist ideals, even if it is not technically a legal violation of the text of the Constitution itself. The JS Kaga is an embodiment of Japan’s commitment to play a more significant geopolitical role in South East Asia, and the JS Kaga would likely be quite impactful in any war with the PRC. Additionally, the JS Kaga is indicative of an enhanced integration between the United States’ and the Japanese militaries, because the JS Kaga was retrofitted with the F-35B in mind, which is the flagship aircraft of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.
Logan Williams is a writer and researcher currently studying at the University of Connecticut. He is pursuing research regarding Ukrainian history and national identity, hegemonic theory, the Cold War, and international development/liberalization processes. Mr. Williams’ work has been published in newspapers, magazines, and journals, such as:, Geopolitics Magazine, Modern Diplomacy, The Fletcher Forum of Wo
rld Affairs, Democracy Paradox, Diario Las Américas, International Affairs Forum, Fair Observer, History Is Now Magazine, American Diplomacy, etc.
