Japan has been working hard to maintain its edge.
Here s What You Need to Remember: Tokyo must put to sea “smaller, cheaper, more numerous, and redundant systems, including heavily armed missile craft,” to serve alongside pricey “exquisite systems” such as Aegis destroyers and light aircraft carriers. A rebalanced and more numerous fleet would be a more resilient fleet should the one-on-one fracas Chinese strategists actually take place.
Toshi Yoshihara, a long-time coauthor and friend, has put out the definitive report detailing how strategic thinkers and practitioners in Communist China size up Japanese sea power. The outlook is dour. China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) has overtaken Japan’s navy, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), by many measures over the past decade. Tokyo must play catch-up. And Washington must help.
Join the American Sea Power Project Discussion Here
American thinking regarding sea power has evolved continually. The first substantial debate about it played out in the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and the participants reached back for its terms to the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress in 1775. The essentials of the argument were self-evident in the framers’ mandate that the Congress “
shall provide and maintain a Navy.” Ever since, politicians, naval leaders, and the broader public have debated the intent of that phrase, how to fulfill its requirements, and with what means to do so. In light of today’s national and international challenges, the nation must seize this moment to renew the debate.