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© KYODOU.S. approves sale of additional air-to-surface missiles to Japan
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© KYODO
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Wasabi
Stop buying weapon from the USA. Use our taxes to make yours if you need it that much.
elephant200
How old are the F15J in service of the JASDF? Fourty years already and still being the workhorse of Japanese air power to be a bomber,is that funny?
China has test flew her sixth generation fighters last Christmas, so won't be a big deal of these grandpapa bombers
Blacklabel
There we go- “sale of”!
all for that.
BertieWooster
We don't need them!
theFu
If Japan wants weapons, great. Building weapons that actually hit the intended target AND integrate with existing deployment platforms isn't easy. It would take Japan 10 yrs to figure out how and that's while they try to learn targeting for moving objects. Israel did this, but ended up removing US integration packages for their home-grown weapons and deployment systems. Israel balked at the cost of US weapons. Also, the US weapons weren't customized for likely enemies of Israel, so it made sense.
Japan's enemies are the same as the USA has, are very close, and quickly building up their military weapons systems.
If you are talking about the low, slow, fly-over of a city, that's likely fake. New aircraft aren't flown that way in public. They are flown for months, if not year, in test ranges, far away from the public. The source of the video is suspect. I'd call it disinformation, until more actual proof happens.
TaiwanIsNotChina
A great move but even better would be anti-ship missiles and ground launch capabilities.
TaiwanIsNotChina
That is a great missile. I hope it doesn't detract from the US's stockpile.
Peter14
Slow news day, 16 missiles is nothing.
OssanAmerica
F-15 confirmed kills by US and Allies since introduction. Over 100.
Chinese J-10 kills......zero.
Chinese J-11 kills.......zero.
Chinese J-16 kills......zero.
Chinese J-20 kills.....zero.
China has no hands on experience, either strategically or in pilots. And certainly none in carrier based warfare. Something Japan had 80 years ago. China has nothing to chest beat about.
John-San
Most probably 16 duds. you can't really test them and made in the USA. if they are anything like a Ford Ranger they are duds.
quercetum
This is good news for China. It’s not really about hot war killings but getting the other countries to spend and bleed them til their gdp growth is flat like Japan’s.
iron man
why is zero kills so bad. please lets give a good hand towards zero kills. Or will israel purchases... zip mouth. it is not a game of darts. my darts cost me 50bucks. hit the board every time. USD39Mill estimated. any future supplies in the small print. For the Japan tax payer majority to decide.
elephant200
Something Japan had 80 years ago. China has nothing to chest beat about.
The naval warfare is very different with 80 years ago, I am talking about technology not history !
elephant200
China has no hands on experience, either strategically or in pilots.
We shot down 5 U2 spy planes in 1960s, CIA sponsored Taiwan pilots flew that plane into China taking photos of nuclear facilities. Those days only passive surface to air missiles could reaching U2's flying height. A very huge intelligence network in Taiwan underground that helped to predict the route of those U2 to achieve that.
Don't underestimate our experience !
elephant200
@quercetum: Japan is overestimate US weapons performance, that F15 was a early 1970s design with two very large air intakes. Those days has no stealth concept and no supersonic cruise. But that was what they have in a near future. They are easy target to be destroyed.
The gap between China and Japan or US is changing , as the sixth generation fighters will goto service in coming ten years, the tide is changing favoring China!
elephant200
F15 confirmed kills by US and Allies since introduction. Over 100.
Yes that was history but it wont last forever. China is not sitting idle and let your hands touching us.The Chinese Sixth generation fighters test flight success and future rolling out to replace the Sukhoi Flankers or even the J20s....eetc.We have been pushing a robust military modernization for three decades and we mean a very serious business.
Goto see youtube and knows what I means!
quercetum
An Air Force official said the service monitors Beijing’s advanced warplane development and that the prototypes align with Chinese strategic objectives and long-range force planning.
“It's fair to say we pay a lot of attention to what the Chinese are doing. And so, not everything that becomes public is a shock,” Andrew Hunter said when asked about new images of purported 6th Generation Chinese fighters. “But having said that, their pace is incredibly fast.”
Hunter previously warned lawmakers that the US was in a race with China for a sixth-generation fighter, and at the time predicted the US would win. Hunter acknowledged the US may not win the race to initial operational capability (IOC).
Fighto!
BertieWooster-
That's Japan's decision that they have made.
Not yours.
didou
Does actually Japan use any missile, at least for tests ?
If not, no need to buy any
リッチ
Japan loves sucking up to the war machine and dreaming of the good old days.
JboneInTheZone
By missiles, not planes…
isabelle
Perhaps you missed the trillions that your emperor is spending on his military (plus the massive percentage lost to PLA corruption), whilst China's economy steadily and inexorably declines?
(And it is his military, not the Chinese people's, as the PLA serves the CCP, not the country of China or its people.)
Oh, and if you believe that China's GDP growth is really "around 5%," you're welcome to continue living in CCP fantasy land.
Bret T
To those complaining about the cost of these missiles, please remember that freedom is not free. You must pay to be safe and maintain your sovereignty.
The US did not make the rules, we just play by them.
gaijintraveller
Please don't support the ruthless US weapons industry. It is evil. It supports genocide. It does not shed a tear after all the death and destruction it causes.
travelbangaijin
I used these missiles in the Ace Combat video game - they are very effective
itsonlyrocknroll
Japan US defence industries need to work "hand in glove" to develop share every area of next generation security protection.
Land sea air, you name it.
OssanAmerica
Chinese PLA Air Force fighter pilots are very good at shooting down unarmed civilian aircraft and unarmed reconaissance aircraft. You must be proud.
"The 1954 Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4 shootdown was an incident on 23 July 1954, when a Cathay Pacific Airways DC-4/C-54[4] airliner was shot down by Chinese Air Force fighter aircraft. The event occurred off the coast of Hainan Island, where the plane was en route from Bangkok to Hong Kong, killing 10 of 19 passengers and crew on board. The crew of six was headed by British captain Phil Blown. In all, one flight crew member, two cabin crew members and seven of the thirteen passengers were killed in the attack and subsequent crash of the airliner"
Agent_Neo
As long as China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea are surrounding Japan, Japan needs the military power to fight on its own.
Sell us not only land-to-surface missiles, but anti-ship missiles as well!
OssanAmerica
The U.S. and it's allies have both the technology AND the experience and history. China doesn't.
China is like a little kid with the latest toys with no knowledge of how to use them effectively.
Desert Tortoise
If your aircraft can launch a JASSM-ER it can launch LRASM. In a real shooting war I don't think the US would be too reluctant to let the JASDF load LRASMs frim US stocks of that weapon on their aircraft.
deanzaZZR
MICs get a stiffy with every new USA military sale. Both predictable and funny.
deanzaZZR
Ah, the bloody fang of USA imperialism not only exposed but celebrated! Simply amazing.
Desert Tortoise
A couple of facts that might surprise you. The old A-12 Oxcart and SR-71 Blackbird have very clear faceting in the leading edges of their nose chine and wing. Early stealth tech. The SR-71 also hid the compressor blades from radar very well. Earlier still, the very first supersonic fighter produced by any European nation, the SAAB Draken from the late 1950s can super cruise. We have examples out here at the Civilian Flight Test Pilot school in Mojave, former Danish Air Force examples and they can exceed Mach 1 without going to burner.
The B-1B has different intakes to hide the compressors from radar, sacrificing some top speed compared to the B-1A to achieve this. Stealth is expensive and the treat environment of the 1970s didn't yet demand all aspect stealth to complete the mission. But the rudiments were already known. Even in WWII US submarines were using RAM coatings on periscopes to avoid detection by enemy radars.
Desert Tortoise
I should have said threat environment of the 1970s, not "treat environment"
Our cats and dogs have a "treat environment", lol : )
jib
A little too late, Japan is the shadow state of the USA
deanzaZZR
I am confused about the emperor reference but lets do the maths. The only country spending a trillion dollar per annum on weapons and actual violence is the USA. China's spending is counted in hundreds of billions.
That you predictably get angry that China spends 1/4 of the amount the USA does is both perplexing and amusing.
P_C
Something eventually must give:
Japan increasing military spending like never before
Japan / Philippines / S Korea / Taiwan / US regional increase in military activity
China PM lambasting Taiwan "separatists" on a daily basisGoing to shake the world when it happens
Tamarama
Japan doesn't need this stuff unless it thinks the US is going to pull out of Asia. But as we well know, the US is a hegemonic world aggressor, so it's not going to do that.
So stop funding the US Military-Industrial complex with my tax please. I object.
John-San
Like the USA can't produce anymore due to their incapacity to manufacture but still have needs for these product and have to import these products from China. In turn selling killing missiles to every nation that surround China. Last week Japan is class has a risk to their national security then turn around sell missile to Japan and tells Japan now point the missile that way to China. How dumb how stupid how unintelligent that they actual think the missile are actual for that purpose. Japan and China are working together to strike a balance of mutual acceptance and trade. While the USA is forging a love/hate relationship with Japan. It not going to work out that way. The whole of Asia is working towards better relation with China while trying appease the super bully/extortionist on the other hand.
voiceofokinawa
There is no doubt that the world is inching back toward erstwhile colonialism and militarism when the law of the jungle was a taken-for-granted yardstick.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump brazenly suggests that Greenland and Panama Canal be U.S. territories.
It is in the same vein that the U.S. Congress approved the sale of lethal weapons to Japan, air-to-ground missiles, fully knowing that the transaction violates Japan's pacifist constitution,
Colonialism seems to die hard.
OssanAmerica
Fact Check:
There is nothing in the Japanese constitution which addresses either the sale or purchase of weapons.
deanzaZZR
This again? Yes, the Japanese Constitution has not changed. What has changed is the interpretation of the constitution. So now the LDP feels it is OK to export weapons. This was not a judgement of the Supreme Court of Japan. It was simply the right-wing side of the LDP getting the upper hand.
voiceofokinawa
OssanAmerica,
There is nothing in the Japanese constitution which addresses either the sale or purchase of weapons
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution says: "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."
U.S. Congress' approval of the sale of the missiles to Japan means that Japan can ignore the constitutional constraint and freely buy weapons from the U.S. for the purpose of settling international disputes.
kurisupisu
Air to surface missiles?
Sounds as those armaments are more offensive than defensive, no?
OssanAmerica
Can you read English? Where is there any mention of buying or selling weapons? Renouncing the right of war simply means not starting a war.
voiceofokinawa
OssanAmerica,
True, there is no line that mentions "buying or selling weapons." But the constitution abundantly says international disputes must not be settled by use of force, that is, by a war, regardless of which side has started the war.
Your stance is to force Japan to go to war started by the U.S.
Desert Tortoise
So what is your idea of what Japan should do when their soldiers land on the Senkaku Islands and take them for China? How about when the Chinese come and "liberate" Okinawa from the Japanese occupiers". Do you think out of fealty to your Constitution that the Japanese should not fight back and simply surrender in the face of an attack? This is why you are seen as kind of a broken record here and not taken seriously.
smithinjapan
Phew! Glad out taxes will go up this year and nothing will be done about the cost of daily goods.
TaiwanIsNotChina
No one can know what China really spends and the US has to reach across the planet to throw China back.
voiceofokinawa
Correction:
The comment above should have been addressed to Desert Tortoise.
OssanAmerica
Thank you for admitting that fact.
And Japan has no intention of altering that first paragraph of Article 9.
However, it has been fully established that Japan has the right of self-defense.
Contrary to your absurd claim, the US can not "force" Japan (or any country) to go to war. However, Japan has now established the right of collective defense. Meaning, if your Chinese PLA Navy attacks the US Navy, the JMSDF will help the US defend itself.
You seem to have a complete misunderstanding of Article 9. It does not preclude Japan from self defense or sale and purchase of weapons. It only prohibits starting a war.
voiceofokinawa
How much will Japan pay to the U.S. for the purchase of 400 Tomahawk missiles? $2.35 billion or¥348 billion. But this article says: “U.S. approves sale of additional air-to-surface missiles to Japan “and so Japan must pay more than $2.35 billion for the purchase of U.S.-made missiles.
Remember that Japan must shoot down incoming enemy missiles heading toward the U. S. mainland. No wonder, then, Tokyo is mulling over raising sales taxes on some commercial items.