Japanese must have already felt the same thing. The number one target of Japan could actually be USA and its tight greedy control.
For a fact, it is known that a lot of KingCheetah's rep points actually come from titans of industry and entrepreneurs who log on to just do a little something nice for this contributor to US greatness. rep. +1
Many countries in East and SE Asia still want the US to remain and play an active role in the region.
Carriers are never in range. Your strategery is poor considering you want to dedicate a carrier battle group to a backup duty. If you have a better option in every way available, you use it.
The Chinese response... a little lion of their own! http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...china-swaps-lion-for-dog-hopes-no-one-notices Visitors to a zoo in China got a rude surprise when the lion started barking. Turns out it was no lion, but just a Tibetan mastiff, a large, hairy breed of dog — which, for what it's worth, more closely resembles the king of the jungle than does perhaps any other domestic canine. Apparently, officials in Louhe city zoo in central Henan province hoped no one would notice when they decided to make the switch and send the enclosure's regular resident, an African lion, away to a breeding center. "One family surnamed Liu took their six-year-old son to the zoo in People's Park," reported the local Dahe Daily newspaper. "On the way, Mrs. Liu was teaching her son all the sounds that the different animals make. But when they arrived, her son said the lion was barking like a dog." Mrs. Liu told the Beijing Youth Daily: "The zoo is absolutely trying to cheat us. They are trying to disguise dogs as lions." It turns out that the dog-for-cat swap wasn't the only attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of zoo patrons: There was also a domestic dog housed in the wolf pen, and a white fox was found pacing the leopard exhibit. The Telegraph newspaper reports: "There was no official explanation for the change of exhibits, but one zookeeper said the lion had been sent away for breeding. Yu Hua, a spokesman for the People's Park said that the zoo had been run by a private businessman for several years, at an annual rent of [$17,000]. Many Chinese zoos have struggled to make money in recent years, after a government ruling that animal shows should cease and that they should operate on a non-profit basis."
More Chinese response: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1zIFwrSXDmI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
You aren't paying attention, with all due respect. It's about enlarging our carrier fleet and using smaller carriers to carry out tasks that free up a Nimitz and puts her at less risk. It's about having 20 carriers, instead of a dozen. More, if you include the America class flat tops being built for the Marines. Those Wasp and America class ships can carry as many as 20 F-35B's. Think outside the box. It isn't about "backup duty" for a Nimitz, but rather a large increase in power projection. The Nimitz class carriers can provide naval AWACS aircraft, like the E2D Hawkeye, as well as aircraft like the EA-18G Growler, which jam enemy radar. Those aircraft can't be carried by the smaller carriers. That makes for a deadly combination.
Japan only pitches in $2B in the kitty? We have a $700B defense budget. Their share should be more like $200B. They're like upper middle class people using the Lone Star food stamp card at HEB. Time to pay up you b****es! http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/japan/u-s-japan-sign-new-five-year-host-nation-support-agreement-1.132428 TOKYO — The United States and Japan on Friday officially signed off on the new Special Measures Agreement, a five-year plan that will maintain Japan’s current spending to support U.S. military forces in the country... The Japanese government will spend 188.1 billion yen — or $2.02 billion — annually in the next five years...
The Japanese are ripping us off big time. Part of our tax money went to provide security for these people who probably have a higher average standard of living than us.
No. They don't. "Japan is some ridiculously technologically advanced island" is a ridiculous myth. It's superior perhaps in robots for manufacturing or something, but in day to day life, Japan is noticeably behind the United States, and I could go on for a long time if anyone cared. And yes, Japan leeches off the United States. That was more or less the arrangement at the conclusion of peace. America protects Japan, Japan can focus on its economy without spending huge amounts on its military, and Asia doesn't have to panic over Japanese revanchism. It was a great deal for everyone when it was made. Now, of course, things are changing with the rise of the Cold War, but it's not a rip off.
The same "self interest" we have in Vailhingen, Germany. Why the hell do we need a base in Southwestern Germany....because we always have. The question is: Why close it. Deployment strategies (yeah, they still exist) Fockass (troops focus better on their job/training when overseas...that's a fact) Regional interest/Politics. (Somebody wants us there) Revenue / Cost savings (vs US bases) Come on...really. Are you saying we are there for altruistic reasons?
KingCheetah mentioning China in his thread As least, he's a lot more consistent than today's politicians. Reading this thread, I kind of believe that China started WWII, and occupied bunch of countries.
I think people here are underestimating the JSDF. While not specifically geared towards offensive operations, they Japan actually has some very high quality armed forces; they are very well equipped and they are well trained. And, this "story" is not much of a story at all; this is the second helicopter carrier in its class, the first one was activated in 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Self-Defense_Forces Thile their SDF are not particularly large in comparison to the Korans or Chinese, quality offers an edge of its own. Their Kongo and Atago DDGs are top of the line and more than a march for anything in the Chinese fleet. Their air force consists mostly of F-15s and F-2s (modified F-16 variants), nothing to shake a stick at. This particular boat is really nothing special. It is almost certainly geared towards ASW (anti-submarine warfare). That is accomplished primarily through the use of helicopter assets. This one is clearly a helicopter carrier, although it may be able to carry a small compliment of F-35Bs in the future. I am not aware of Japanese participation in the F-35 program, however; I know that they have an indigenous F-3 program going but I am not aware of any V/TOL or STOVL variants of this one. So unless we sell them some F-35s (possible) this will simply be a helicopter carrier. Even if it did fly some F-35s, however, it would not be a game changer. It's maximum aircraft complement (helicopters) is 11, so if you threw a mix of helos and F-35s in there you'd probably be looking at 4-6 F-35s max. That is not a complement that can defend an expeditionary fleet, thus there is no way this is going to be used as a conventional fixed air carrier. It looks like it will simply be a capable ASW platform to augment Japan's other naval forces. As for why they are ramping things up, consider that the Norks like to fire missiles their direction every once in a while, and Google "South China Sea", and finally Google ""Senkaku Islands". They live in a tough neighborhood. And considering that their likely opponents would be either the Norks or the Chinese, each of whom operate several submarines which would be a tremendous threat to the JMSDF, building a couple of these for ASW makes alot of sense. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if, in the relatively near future, we started to see them build a pocket carrier or two, when the Chinese start building some real carriers. I wouldn't worry about them actively looking at expansion again until I saw them building lots of amphibious assault ships, though. Interesting reading here on that score: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/japans-emerging-amphibious-capability/
I disagree with this point -- a current Wasp class designed in the 80s and only about 15 feet longer can max out with 20-24 Harriers. I'm sure they could get quite a few more F-35s on it than 4-6 without all the helicopters. My point may be moot though if the Izumo doesn't have the same displacement/ mass as their US counterparts. I'm just going on overall length -- I haven't seen the total displacement of the Izumo yet.
Thread title is meant to be pro-China -- as in we know what you're up to Japan -- that's not a destroyer.
So the f18 won't be in range from the Nimitz but the fa-18 will be? They are all in range. Your entire premise is really just kinda insane. These ships serve a purpose, supercarriers serve a purpose.
The whole discussion is moot because if you take off the helos it serves no purpose. It is about half the displacement of our amphibious assault ships.
