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Japan
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Japan gets ‘some of the same toys as the big boys’ as first aircraft carrier since WWII enters service

  • The upgraded Kaga, formerly a helicopter carrier, is now capable of deploying the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter’s vertical take-off variant
  • Analysts say the carrier will be a welcome addition to Japan’s arsenal – but it’s unlikely to be a game changer amid rising regional tensions

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A navigator runs back to her post after raising the Rising Sun Flag, the Japanese naval ensign, aboard the Kaga in 2018 while it was still a helicopter carrier. Photo: Reuters
Julian Ryall
Japan has completed the initial upgrades to its warship Kaga, transforming one of the largest vessels in the Maritime Self-Defence Force fleet from a helicopter carrier to the country’s first full aircraft carrier since World War II.
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The upgraded ship, now capable of deploying the vertical take-off variant of the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, will be a welcome addition to the Japanese arsenal, analysts say – although the Kaga alone will not be a game changer amid rising regional tensions over maritime security.

Japan’s upgraded Kaga aircraft carrier is seen at Kure naval base in Hiroshima prefecture on Monday. Photo: Kyodo
Japan’s upgraded Kaga aircraft carrier is seen at Kure naval base in Hiroshima prefecture on Monday. Photo: Kyodo

“One weapons system or warship will not change the entire military equation in Japan’s favour, but the advanced aircraft that it will carry will certainly give it greater capabilities,” said Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

“The broader advantage it will provide is the greater ability to operate and interact with US and other forces in the region, giving Japan some of the same toys as the big boys.”

The Kaga was unveiled to Japanese media on Monday at Kure naval base in Hiroshima prefecture.

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With a displacement of 27,000 long tons (27,433 tonnes) fully loaded and a length of 248 metres (814 feet), the 115 billion yen (US$758 million) vessel was originally launched in 2015 as the second in the Izumo class of helicopter carriers – the largest warships Japan has built since the end of the second world war in 1945.

In 2018, the Japanese government announced that due to changes in the security situation in Northeast Asia, the two vessels would undergo significant changes enabling them to deploy Lockheed Martin F-35B fighters, instead of a maximum of eight helicopters.
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