Japan Wants Supersonic Glide Bombs To Protect Disputed Islands from China

 

Earlier this week, we published a summary of an internal document via Kyodo News from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) that specified a military crisis at sea between China and Japan could be on the horizon.

The internal report, authored by two Chinese military officials at the Naval Military Research Institute and Dalian Naval Academy, suggested that the probability of a significant military crisis at sea between both countries is rapidly increasing due to disputes over islands in the East China Sea. In particular, the Japan-owned Senkakus Islands, which are also claimed by China, where the land masses are known as the Diaoyu, and Taiwan, which calls them Tiaoyutai.

China aiming for air control over Western Pacific, surveillance as far as Izu chain: report

In a report on its air strategy, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army plans to broaden its air surveillance and attack capabilities to the Western Pacific, including the vicinity of Japan, to ensure its command of the air, it was learned Sunday.

The report seen by Kyodo News emphasizes the need to develop and enhance nine types of “strategic equipment,” such as a new type of strategic bomber and a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense ground-based interceptor system with an eye specifically toward the United States, which is strengthening its so-called pivot to Asia.

Confirmed: China Is Building a Military Base Near Japan

Last week IHS Jane’s reported that satellite images from October 2014 show that China is building a heliport with 10 landing pads and wind turbines on Nanji Island, which is one of 52 islands on an archipelago that is part of Zhejiang province. Nanji Islands is only 300 km from the disputed Senkaku Islands. By contrast, Okinawa— which hosts major U.S. and Japanese military bases— are 400 km away from the disputed islands.

Chinese military set up joint operations command center: sources

The Chinese military has set up a joint command center that would integrate the operations of its army, navy and air forces, military sources have told Kyodo News, in a move aimed at making military strategy and tactics more efficient.

The joint operations command center has been established under the People’s Liberation Army’s General Staff Headquarters, which is responsible for taking command of military strategies, as part of military reform efforts to boost the unified operations of Chinese capabilities on land, sea, air and in dealing with strategic missile operations, the sources said.

Japan eyes defending allies under attack

TOKYO – A government panel on security issues will propose that Japan defend not only the United States but also other allied nations under attack by exercising its right of collective self-defense, the panel’s acting chairman said Tuesday.

Shinichi Kitaoka, who also serves as president of the International University of Japan, said in an interview with Kyodo News the panel will state in its report that Japan can exercise the right when “countries with close ties (with it)” are under attack and it is deemed to do harm to Japan.

Kitaoka indicated the panel will not specify which country to defend in the upcoming report as withholding such details would be helpful in maintaining deterrence.

U.S. early-warning radar system to be installed near Kyoto

TOKYO — Tokyo and Washington plan to install a U.S. early-warning radar system at a coastal base near Kyoto to bolster defenses against the North Korean missile threat, reports said Sunday.

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The X-band radar system will be built in an Air Self-Defense Force base in Kyotango, northwest of Kyoto, on the coast of the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, Kyodo News and Jiji Press agencies reported, citing unnamed sources.

Cyber Blitz

A recent series of cyber attacks on Japanese Internet sites originated in China and were viewed as a possible prelude to military action, according to defense officials familiar with details of the attacks.

Japan’s National Police Agency revealed last week that at least 19 Japanese websites were hit by cyber attacks timed to increase tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over the Senkaku islands.

U.S. officials said the sites affected included Japan’s Defense Ministry, Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, and the country’s supreme court. Banking and utilities networks also were hit.

Other sites that were attacked included Japan’s Statistics Bureau and the government’s Internet TV, which were temporarily blocked. A university hospital network also was hit.

Earlier this month, up to six Chinese military vessels moved into Japanese waters and then withdrew, Japan’s coast guard reported.

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According to one U.S. official, the Chinese-origin cyber attacks are considered a preview of how China’s military would conduct the opening phase of a military campaign. The official did not say China is preparing some type of military engagement with Japan over the islands, but warned that one could erupt through miscalculation.

The latest cyber attacks began in mid-September and appeared timed to Beijing’s growing animosity toward Japan over the island dispute.

The Japanese police said in a statement that the cyber attacks were “presumably connected” to the islands dispute. The attack targets were posted on the web site of the Chinese hacker group “Honker Union” and included “government executive agencies and important infrastructure companies.”

The National Police Agency stepped up monitoring of websites through the Cyber Force Center and alerted organizations listed as the attack targets. The center was seeking to analyze the attacks and prevent their spread, the statement said.

Tatsuo Kawabata, Internal Affairs and Communications minister, told Kyodo News that the ministry’s network was hit with an intermittent attack for a total of seven-and-a-half hours beginning Sept. 15. The attack was most intense on Sept. 16, when 95 percent of the traffic to the site originated in China.

The recent cyber attacks appeared to be less sophisticated than the kinds of cyber attacks that the Pentagon has detected in recent years and would likely precede a military conflict.

However, the attacks also appeared designed to give China’s government deniability for the digital strikes and could also be multiple purpose strikes for both political and military goals.

Many of the attacked websites were replaced with a Chinese flag and proclamations that China owned the Senkakus.

Japan’s National Police Association reported that the Chinese hackers had targeted 300 organizations in Japan, and that several thousand Chinese had posted notices of the planned attacks and hacker tools to be used on a chat site called “YY Chat.”

An official said one Chinese group behind the attacks was identified as a well-known group that is suspected of having ties to the Chinese government.

The group is called the Honker Union and surfaced several months ago after a period of relative quiet, the official said.

Full article: Cyber Blitz (Washington Free Beacon)