Reference News Network, February 14 report: According to Japan's Asahi Shimbun, on February 12, under the leadership of Prime Minister Takahashi Hayato, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives election. Given Takahashi's advocacy for "fundamentally strengthening defense capabilities," some internal personnel of the Ministry of Defense and the Self-Defense Forces believe that the defense expansion policy will accelerate. However, they are also concerned that the implementation process may not keep up with Takahashi's pace due to the current organizational structure and environment.

Since taking office last autumn, Takahashi's administration has achieved the goal of increasing defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) ahead of schedule, and increased the defense budget for this fiscal year to about 11 trillion yen (approximately 71.8 billion U.S. dollars). Considering further plans to expand the budget, the LDP pledged during the campaign to "build a defense system suitable for the new era."

The report states that an increasing number of people related to the Ministry of Defense believe that work on the procurement of defense equipment and the establishment of organizational structures will speed up, given the surrounding military situation. Although self-defense force members' benefits are expected to improve, there are voices of concern that some policies may be difficult to implement due to the current reality.

Mass deployment of drones is one such example. The Japanese government proposed a so-called "shield concept" aimed at protecting coastal areas and allocated over 100 billion yen in the next fiscal year's budget to purchase the first batch of attack drones, totaling thousands of units. Takahashi also outlined her ideas during the election period, emphasizing the use of drones to further prepare for the formation of "new combat methods."

However, according to sources from the Ministry of Defense, a real drone combat environment or operational concept has not yet been formed at this stage.

Drone combat training requires large areas of land. In the United States, the training area can exceed the size of Tokyo's 23 wards. In contrast, Japan's training areas are small, and if drones lose control during training, they might crash into civilian land. Using electromagnetic signals to suppress enemy drones is also an attack method, but such training could damage nearby residents' smartphones and televisions.

The report states that some people inside and outside the Ministry of Defense have called the practice of introducing equipment without a clear operational plan "good-looking but not useful."

In addition, the goal of "possessing next-generation power ships" proposed by the LDP and the Japanese Restoration Party when forming a coalition government has also raised concerns. This move aims to introduce nuclear-powered submarines, but there are many objections within the Ministry of Defense.

Nuclear-powered submarines can stay submerged for long periods, and their larger size allows them to carry long-range missiles. However, this has raised questions about whether it complies with the Basic Act on Nuclear Energy, which advocates peaceful use of nuclear energy. Moreover, the number of personnel required for larger submarines is approximately twice that of conventional power submarines.

The report states that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces face a shortage of nearly 20,000 personnel annually, with the Maritime Self-Defense Force facing particularly severe personnel shortages. Due to its enclosed space, submarines are considered one of the most demanding working environments. The government has proposed measures to improve the salary of Self-Defense Forces personnel, but recruiting and training highly skilled professionals capable of operating nuclear reactors still takes time. (Translation: Liu Lin)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7606591661452132907/

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