They haven't seen actual combat yet and have only been immersed in joint exercises with friendly countries, it's hard to tell. But considering how quick they respond to territorial incursions and mobilize quickly during disasters, I'd assume they're capable.
Probably as effective as their equipment. And depending on the battle that would be fought with it. But the days of daring sabre charges and fighting spirit are over.
That is impossible to say as it depends on the case. Maybe effective in one natural disaster and not effective in another, maybe effective in case of 5 incoming missiles and ineffective in case of 50, maybe effective when 10,000 highly armed Chinese soldiers invade but ineffective when 10,000,000 unarmed civilians walk in, and so on. In other words, however effective considered, that is quickly obsolete when simply outnumbered, which will soon become very probable for every scenario in a phase of shrinking and aging population.
Well trained and well equipped. Probably very effective at defense on home turf. Which of course is what they were created for.
Hard to argue with that. Plenty of potential to cause serious problems to any force reckless enough to attack them. And the defence budget has recently been ramped up significantly. Up to date systems count for a lot.
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TaiwanIsNotChina
Probably effective but underfunded.
Toshihiro
They haven't seen actual combat yet and have only been immersed in joint exercises with friendly countries, it's hard to tell. But considering how quick they respond to territorial incursions and mobilize quickly during disasters, I'd assume they're capable.
Moonraker
Probably as effective as their equipment. And depending on the battle that would be fought with it. But the days of daring sabre charges and fighting spirit are over.
wallace
The SDF have never been in a war or defended the country so no one knows how good they would be.
deanzaZZR
Given the average age of some of these forces you probably want to see them in some sort of powered vehicle or ship.
OssanAmerica
Well trained and well equipped. Probably very effective at defense on home turf. Which of course is what they were created for.
wallace
The SDF is very good in natural disasters which is an important role.
deanzaZZR
A truly confident country would boot them out posthaste.
robert maes
Effective against the Chinese army but no match for either of the Koreans or Taiwanese. Nor the battle trained Russians.
i have no faith in the chain of command nor in the cooperation between army/navy and airforce divisions.
the sdf is one of the best equipped military forces in the world.
purple_depressed_bacon
Unsure about how well they'd do in combat but they seem pretty competent when it comes to responding to natural disaster emergencies.
Alan Harrison
How effective a fighting force do you think Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) are?
Inexperienced. Would not be able to cope with the unexpected without help from others.
Sven Asai
That is impossible to say as it depends on the case. Maybe effective in one natural disaster and not effective in another, maybe effective in case of 5 incoming missiles and ineffective in case of 50, maybe effective when 10,000 highly armed Chinese soldiers invade but ineffective when 10,000,000 unarmed civilians walk in, and so on. In other words, however effective considered, that is quickly obsolete when simply outnumbered, which will soon become very probable for every scenario in a phase of shrinking and aging population.
Blackstar
@OssanAmerica
Well trained and well equipped. Probably very effective at defense on home turf. Which of course is what they were created for.
Hard to argue with that. Plenty of potential to cause serious problems to any force reckless enough to attack them. And the defence budget has recently been ramped up significantly. Up to date systems count for a lot.