In addition to the exercises, Japan plans to send its aircraft carrier "Kaga" to the United States in November this year to conduct takeoff and landing tests and certification to qualify the deployment of F-35B fighter jets. The Japanese Defense Ministry plans to carry out two large-scale modifications to the "Kaga" so that F-35B stealth fighters can take off and land on it, effectively turning it into a full-fledged "aircraft carrier." Over the next seven months, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will visit countries including Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, India, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Tonga, the United States and Vanuatu. The visit to Tonga will include participation in the 50th anniversary fleet review of the Royal Navy of Tonga. In addition, Japan is currently discussing further visits with other countries. In addition to the visit, Japanese ships deployed at sea will participate in a series of multinational joint exercises.
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's "Izumo" class aircraft carriers " and "Kaga" will conduct the largest deployment to date. The mission will last seven months. The name of the operation is "Indo-Pacific Deployment 2024" (IPD24). In addition to these two aircraft carriers, Japan has the Murasame Ariake-class destroyer (DD-109) and the Maya Haguro-class destroyer (DDG-180), as well as the Osumi Kunisaki-class amphibious landing ship (LST -4003) and a Mogami-class Noshiro frigate (FFM-3), as well as an unspecified number of conventional submarines and two P-1 maritime patrol aircraft that will participate in the subsequent sea deployment. These six surface ships will form four different surface combat groups, visit several countries and participate in a series of multinational joint maritime exercises.
The first surface combat group includes Kunisaki and the two ship-borne air cushion landing craft; the second surface combat group includes Izumo, Ariake and Haguro; the third surface combat group will include the "Noshiro"; include the "Kaga." Over the next seven months, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will visit countries including Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, India, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Tonga, the United States and Vanuatu. The visit to Tonga will include participation in the 50th anniversary fleet review of the Royal Navy of Tonga. In addition, Japan is currently discussing further visits with other countries.
In addition to the visit, Japanese ships deployed at sea will participate in a series of multinational joint exercises, including the "Marara-2024" exercise in the South Pacific (Marara2024) hosted by France, the "Rim of the Pacific 2024" (RIMPAC-2024 ) exercise, U.S, Japan and South Korea The "Pacific Dragon 2024" (Pacific Dragon 2024), "Pacific Vanguard-2024" (Pacific Vanguard-2024), the "Kakadu-2024" exercise led by Australia (Kakadu-2024 ) and the "Mara" exercises led by the United States and India such as the "Malabar-2024" exercise (Malabar-2024) can be described as very challenging.
Japan's pacifist constitution prohibits Japan from owning attack aircraft carriers. In late 2018, the Japanese government reviewed the defense scheme and other documents and decided to make "aircraft carrier-like" modifications to the "Izumo" and "Kaga" frigates. Although Japan called the two warships "frigates" after the modification, and even the U.S. Naval Association called them "seriously" "big decks," these two warships are not that important in terms of tonnage, layout or function already meets the standards of modern light aircraft carriers.
This will be the longest deployment of the two Japanese aircraft carriers. Previously, in deployments to the Indo-Pacific region, the Izumo-class deployment time was four to five months. In addition to the exercises, Japan plans to send its "Kaga" aircraft carrier to the United States in November this year to conduct takeoff and landing tests and certification of qualification for the deployment of F-35B fighter jets. The Japanese Defense Ministry plans to carry out two large-scale modifications to the "Kaga" so that F-35B stealth fighters can take off and land on it, effectively turning it into a full-fledged "aircraft carrier." The first phase of modifications was completed at the end of March. The Kaga completed the heat-resistant coating of the deck so that it can withstand the high-temperature exhaust gases emitted by F-35B fighter jet engines have also begun.
The second phase of the renovation, which mainly involves internal zoning changes, is scheduled to begin this year and should be completed two years later.
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