Japan to set up air defense radar in Ogasawara Islands to monitor Chinese aircraft carriers entering the Pacific

The Chinese Communist aircraft carrier Liaoning.

Japanese media Yomiuri Shimbun reported today (31) that Japan’s Defense Ministry has decided to deploy an air defense radar system in the Ogasawara Islands, the second island chain, to monitor the dynamics of the Chinese Communist aircraft carrier crossing the Miyako Strait into the Pacific Ocean in the first place.

According to Japan’s Defense Ministry, the Chinese Communist Navy Liaoning ship has deployed to the Pacific Ocean seven times since December 2016, passing through the Miyako Strait between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island. And shipboard training has been increasing, reaching 61 times since the first passage was announced in July 2013. There were also early warning helicopters taking off near Miyako Island in April this year.

To counter the Communist expansion into the Pacific, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) has established a surveillance network of land-based self-defense forces in the Okinawa Islands, the “entrance” to the Pacific Ocean. However, as the Chinese Communist carrier fleet becomes more proficient, Japan assesses the need to establish a surveillance system on the Pacific islands, which are considered an “air defense surveillance gap”, to prevent naval aircraft from taking off and posing a threat to Japanese cities in the south.

According to the understanding, the Ministry of Defense will include a number of islands in the Ogasawara Islands, such as “Father Island” as a candidate site. Initially, the proposed deployment of about 10 posts of the Air Self-Defense Force Mobile Guard vehicle-mounted mobile radar, and the future is envisaged to install fixed radar to strengthen the surveillance system.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has decided to deploy an air defense radar system in the Ogasawara Islands, the second island chain, to monitor the movement of Chinese aircraft carriers crossing the Miyako Strait and entering the Pacific Ocean in the first place.