According to Japanese media reports, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces equipment is facing “50% unusable” situation, and the sustained combat capability that existing ammunition can maintain is also “fragile”. According to the report, in terms of the availability of fighter jets, the Japanese Self-Defense Force only accounts for 6% of the PLA. The report also pointedly wrote that Japan was unable to “stop the invasion of major powers” by itself, and might only set basic defense capabilities and prepare weapons and equipment with the goal of “supporting it within a few weeks of waiting for U.S. military assistance”. But with current capabilities, this goal is “unlikely to be achieved.”
According to a report on the Nikkei Shimbun website on the 5th, in an informal investigation by the Ministry of Defense, only regarding 50% of all the equipment of the Self-Defense Forces was in operation. As for the remaining equipment that might not be dispatched, less than half were “under maintenance”. Others are “waiting for repairs” due to lack of necessary parts or budget funds.
According to the report, the Air Self-Defense Force has already complained: “The number of aircraft that can be used is insufficient, and the number of dispatches stipulated in the marshalling exercise cannot be achieved”, and the three self-defense forces of the land, sea and air have the same voice. In recent years The availability rate of equipment such as aircraft and tanks has dropped significantly.
Taking the F-2 fighter jet of the Air Self-Defense Force as an example, when the budget is insufficient to ensure the guarantee of parts and components, as an emergency measure, the required parts and components will be removed from the same type of aircraft, and some aircraft will therefore become “organ providers”, Japanese It is described as a “grass mowing field” in Chinese (Japanese writing “刈りField”, which is similar to “cutting leeks” in Chinese), and among these “waiting for maintenance” equipment, there is even a possibility of “no hope of recovery”. sex. In the Self-Defense Forces, there is even a metaphor for this situation, that is, “cannibalism” (common eating).
The report then became even more sensational and exaggerated, and wrote that the PLA has 3,030 aircraft including fighter jets, while Japan has 360 (here obviously only refers to the Air Self-Defense Force), and only 180 aircraft are available if calculated according to the 50% proper rate, which is similar to China’s. Compared with the scale of 3030 aircraft, it is only 6% of China’s. Although the report also admits that it is impossible for China to achieve a 100% proper rate, in short, the gap is greater than the 3030 to 360 of the public data. In Japan’s defense budget for fiscal year 2022, the cost of equipment maintenance and repair is 1.1 trillion yen, accounting for regarding 20% of the total budget. At least double the cost.
The late former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, previously stated that “the first point to maintain continuous combat capability is ammunition. It is impossible to say that (ammunition) has been prepared enough, and there are obvious vulnerabilities (existing defense capabilities).” The most serious problem with ammunition is the “Patriot” PAC-3 surface-to-air missile system interceptor used for anti-missile interception. A Self-Defense Force official revealed that “if an emergency occurs on the southwestern islands, it will not last for a few days.” The PAC-3 costs hundreds of millions of yen each, and there are interceptor missiles that cost billions of yen (probably referring to the “standard” SM-3 interceptor – editor’s note), but these munitions are The priority within the budget framework is low.
It is not easy to store ammunition for a long time. According to the internal materials of the Japanese government, all ammunition, including machine gun bullets and mortar shells, can only be maintained for “regarding two months at most”. Another 10-20% is unusable because of its old age. At the same time, the report also mentioned that because Japan had to guard once morest Soviet attacks during the Cold War, 70% of the ammunition was stored in Hokkaido, while in Kyushu and Okinawa on the side facing the “China threat” The regional ammunition reserves are less than 10%, and the construction of ammunition depots (in these places) has not progressed.
In the post-war Showa 25 (1950) year, Japan promulgated the Gunpowder Control Law, which covers almost all types of man-made explosives and lists them under the management of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and is the eleventh among them. In Article 12 “Storage” and Article 12 “Powder Depot”, the local governments are given great management power. For explosives, including military ammunition, the new construction, relocation and reconstruction of their storage facilities need to obtain all necessary information. Permission is granted by the prefectural governor (local chief executive) of the prefectures and prefectures. The local governor has the right to refuse approval when he deems that the storage facility does not meet the requirements of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on the structure, location and equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to communicate and coordinate with the local government authorities to build an ammunition depot for the Self-Defense Forces. In 2019, when an attempt was made to build an ammunition depot in Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture and other places, local opposition to becoming a “war target” emerged. Demonstration is a protest movement, so it is not easy to get the consent of the local governments, especially in the southwest.
The report believes that considering the existing storage situation, when there is “something” around Okinawa, it is impossible to fight without bringing in new ammunition, oil, food and daily necessities from the outside world, but the transport ships of the Maritime Self-Defense Force are mostly in the 1990s. Those in service are now gradually aging, and the number is insufficient.
An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “‘non-combat capabilities’ such as supply ships and warehouses are the real defense forces.” The report concluded that Japan was unable to “stop the invasion of major powers” on its own, and might only “wait for U.S. military assistance”. Even that goal is “unlikely to be achieved” with current sustained combat capabilities.
