The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that the Maritime Self-Defense Force plans to set up a new "Fleet Information Warfare Command" to improve its ability to respond to comprehensive information warfare. This move is not only part of the current round of major structural adjustments to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, but also the latest move by the Self-Defense Force to strengthen its network information warfare layout. Japan has significantly improved its offensive and defensive capabilities in the cyber and information fields. It is possible that it will create and intervene in regional conflicts through information support and other means in the future.
Recently, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that the Maritime Self-Defense Force plans to set up a new "Fleet Information Warfare Command" to improve its ability to respond to comprehensive information warfare. This move is not only part of the current round of major structural adjustments to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, but also the latest move by the Self-Defense Force to strengthen its network information warfare layout.
Establishing the Information Warfare Command
The Japanese Ministry of Defense said that the newly established "Fleet Information Warfare Command" will integrate the Maritime Self-Defense Force system communication group, the fleet intelligence group under the Self-Defense Fleet, the submarine support group and other institutions with information-related functions to strengthen the comprehensive information warfare capabilities of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. Kenji Yoshinaga, a former intelligence officer of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, said that the new command will be based on the functions and organizational structure of the US Fleet Cyber Command (the US Navy's 10th Fleet Command). In addition to being responsible for collecting and analyzing the opponent's movements, it will also undertake a wider range of information warfare tasks, such as submarine acoustic signal feature analysis, network warfare, electronic warfare, C4ISR, etc. The new command is regarded as the "brain" of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
It is reported that the new command will be directly under the Ministry of Defense, with an operational intelligence brigade and a cyber defense brigade, and will integrate multiple types of intelligence reconnaissance and analysis forces such as hydrology, acoustics, and electromagnetics. The command level is the same as the surface fleet command that the Maritime Self-Defense Force plans to establish in fiscal 2025. The commander may be an admiral from the Ominato Regional Command in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture. As early as 2022, the Japanese government announced the establishment of a new comprehensive information warfare unit in the "Defense Force Preparation Plan". In May this year, Japan announced that it had signed a memorandum of cooperation on maritime information warfare with the United States and Australia.
Accelerate the promotion of "Internet and Information Integration"
In recent years, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces have proposed the idea of "integration of cyber and information technology", reorganized the command and management system, and continued to strengthen cyber warfare capabilities. In 2024, a total of 230.3 billion yen (about 1.625 billion US dollars) will be spent to promote various construction projects. According to Japan's new version of the "National Defense Strategy", strengthening the security of network information systems is the current and future focus of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. In terms of cyber attack and defense thinking, the Self-Defense Forces have transformed the one-time risk elimination concept into a continuous risk management mindset, and will continuously analyze and evaluate cyber risks throughout the entire process and on a regular basis.
At present, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces' cyber attack and defense force is one of the joint combat forces in normal operation. It is directly under the Ministry of Defense, and the number of staff is increasing year by year. It can be divided into cyber warfare-related forces and cyber defense forces. The cyber warfare-related forces are composed of full-time network protection personnel assigned to each self-defense force, including the cyber protection team under the system communication group of the land force, the system communication team group under the maritime self-defense force, and the aviation system communication team under the air self-defense force. It has been expanded from 890 people in March 2023 to 2,230 people, and will increase to more than 4,000 people in 2027. The cyber defense team is a new land, sea and air joint combat force in March 2022. It is also the core force of the Self-Defense Force to implement cyber attack and defense. It currently has 730 people and will increase to 880 people in 2025.
Some commentators believe that given the characteristics of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces that "cyber and information are inseparable" and "the network is derived from information", as well as the fact that the cyber attack and defense forces are based on the background of "something happening in the surrounding areas", it can be predicted that after the establishment of the new headquarters of the Maritime Self-Defense Force responsible for comprehensive information warfare, the Self-Defense Force's cyber and information warfare forces will most likely follow the principles of "confidentiality and surprise attack" and take the following cyber attack actions: attack the opponent's military supplies and combat support systems, disrupt its logistics support plans, and various communication and contact systems; attack the basic networks of the opponent's communications, military industry, agriculture, energy, water and power supply facilities that are related to the opponent's national economy and people's livelihood, causing social chaos, and taking advantage of the opportunity to slander the opponent in public opinion and discredit his cognition.
Greater emphasis on connectivity
In order to build a joint combat system, the Japan Self-Defense Forces also strive to integrate the central command and control system with the command and communication systems of the army, navy and air force to build an information sharing system that is conducive to interconnection and interoperability. In its request for the 2025 defense budget estimate, the Japanese Ministry of Defense clearly stated the importance of having real-time intelligence sharing capabilities and building a seamless information collection posture.
To this end, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces intend to focus on building the "Jiaki" system, which is the core of the integrated air defense missile defense command and control system. After upgrading, it can be used to deal with hypersonic weapons. As a supporting measure, the Self-Defense Forces will purchase the mobile warning and control radar TPS-102 with remote operation function, which is planned to be deployed on Kitadaito Island to improve the warning and surveillance system in the Pacific direction; build a fiber optic network to achieve real-time intelligence sharing between surface ships; build a "central cloud" system to strengthen network protection capabilities; and build a military intelligence communication system using optoelectronic fusion technology to achieve "large capacity, low energy consumption, and low latency" in intelligence communications.
Japan has significantly improved its offensive and defensive capabilities in the cyber and information fields. It is possible that it will create and intervene in regional conflicts through information support and other means in the future.
Source: China National Defense News
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