Er, no, the Wasp class is roughly double to three times the displacement of the Hyuga-class destroyers depending upon mission and loadout. Superficially they are similar but in reality they are a completely different class of ship. Look at the weapons loadout for the Japanese boat, they have VLS, torpedo tubes, and ASROCs, and are clearly meant primarily for ASW operations. It's a sub-hunter. Max aircraft complement is listed as 11, and that almost certainly means helos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hy%C5%ABga_class_helicopter_destroyer Wasp LHDs are a little over 40K tons displacement. Apples and oranges, almost. The limiting factor here is not how many they can fit on their deck but how many they can fit below decks. Helos can have their rotors folded when below decks and do not take up much space. F-35s will not be able to compress into such a tight space. And even if the ship were to carry a few F-35s (or similar) they will certainly still want at least 2-4 helos on board as well. This is a ASW ship that looks like it can also double in a pinch as an OTH amphibious support platform as well. It is *not* going to operate as a fixed wing aircraft carrier in a primary role. At best it could have a few aboard, likely for CAS-type missions like the USMC does with their Harriers, or to provide some level of intermediate range strike capability in specific situations. The rising sun isn't rising again, at least not yet. Relax.
Japan already has much better air superiority options. 20 vs 6 subpar jets is a weird talk to be having when you have hundreds of F-2's and F-15s and the tankers to keep them in the air. They mainly need some kind of ship that is good for helicopters. Oh right, the Izumo is pretty much perfect.
Ach, silly me, I was looking at the wrong class of LHD. The Izumo Class is still significantly smaller than a Wasp(19.5K to 27K depending on mission/loadout) but larger than the Hyuga Class. Still, it is an ASW boat. Max aircraft complement is listed at 14 helos. Still, not the argument is the same. It can't carry enough fixed wing aircraft to make much of a difference, and is almost certainly geared towards ASW with a possible secondary role as an amphibious assault ship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumo-class_helicopter_destroyer Note the complement is 970, crew + troops. That tells me it has accommodations for ground troops and has a secondary amphibious function. The article states that while it has been speculated that it will be F-35B capable, it does not appear that it is actually capable of launching one with the deck as constructed.
Thanks, I wasn't sure about the displacement -- lots of flattop, but not as much storage space underneath.
