Following the Japan Coast Guard, the Maritime Self-Defense Force is also expected to test UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). It is thought that the purpose is to strengthen the maritime surveillance capability, but at the same time, will it lead to the resolution of multiple issues facing the Maritime Self-Defense Force?
MSDF allocates 5 billion yen for UAV test Japan Coast Guard to "introduce"
In the FY2022 budget request announced on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, the Ministry of Defense announced that approximately 5 billion yen was recorded. In addition, the Japan Coast Guard has embarked on the introduction of a UAV for ocean surveillance ahead of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, and has included 3.48 billion yen as the cost of introducing one UAV in the FY2022 budget request.
The Japan Coast Guard will demonstrate the UAV "Sea Guardian" developed and produced by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in the United States from October to November 2020 in order to confirm its usefulness when deciding to introduce a UAV. I did a test. At this time, the Maritime Self-Defense Force provides Hachinohe Air Base in Aomori Prefecture as a test site.
The data obtained from the test was probably provided to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, and based on that data, the Maritime Self-Defense Force judged that the UAV would be useful for them, and requested an estimate for the FY2022 budget for the cost of the test operation. is considered to have been incorporated.
In the "Mid-Term Defense Program" announced in December 2018, the Ministry of Defense "will consider and take necessary measures" for unmanned aerial vehicles to strengthen wide-area ocean surveillance capabilities on the Pacific side. It was specified. In order to realize the policies set forth in the National Defense Program Guidelines (National Defense Program Guidelines), which are the basic guidelines for Japan's security, the government will implement a plan to develop a range of defense equipment during the five-year period from fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2023. It stipulated what kind of policy to introduce products and what kind of policy to implement, and as of 2018, it was already considering the introduction of aerial UAV.
In the background of the Maritime Self-Defense Force finally embarking on the test of the airborne UAV, there are multiple issues facing the Maritime Self-Defense Force. What will change with the introduction of UAVs?
To supplement the retiring patrol aircraft?
Many merchant ships were sunk by Allied submarines during the Pacific War, and the depletion of resources was one of the reasons for the defeat of the war. We have focused on developing a "patrol aircraft" force that searches for and responds to submarines.
As of the end of March 2020, the Maritime Self-Defense Force has 50 P-3C patrol aircraft and 24 P-1 patrol aircraft, for a total of 74 patrol aircraft. Although the number of 74 aircraft possessed does not reach the United States Navy (132 aircraft), it is the second largest among the world's navies, and at first glance it seems to be solid.
However, the P-3C, which was introduced from 1981 to 1997, is rapidly being retired due to aging, and in the five years from 2016 to 2020, 18 aircraft is retired.
At the same time, the impact of the declining birthrate in Japan casts a shadow. In addition to the pilot, the P-3C and P-1 are tactical navigators who make tactical decisions such as creating patrol flight patterns and where to place the sonobuoys that search for submarines, operating the sonar to search for submarines, and , requires a crew of 10 to 11 people, including a sonar crew for visual ocean surveillance. In Japan, where the birthrate is declining, even if the budget to procure the same number of P-1s as P-3Cs (101 aircraft) can be secured, it is expected that it will be difficult to secure crews.
Unmanned aerial vehicles = labor saving Isn't that necessarily the case? Candidates for possible models to be introduced are
Some say that the introduction of UAVs cannot be expected to save manpower to that extent. Even if there is no need for tactical aviators or sonar personnel, pilots are still required, although they require fewer pilots than manned aircraft.
However, the ``Scan Eagle'' adopted by the Ground Self-Defense Force and the ``Guardian'', which is the prototype of the ``Sea Guardian'' scheduled to be introduced by the Japan Coast Guard, are operated and maintained by the manufacturers in the US and Indian forces. However, the military also adopts an operation method such as paying an amount according to the flight time and the amount of data collected. There is no precedent for such a contract in the Ministry of Defense, and it is not clear whether such an operation is being considered, but it is thought that manpower can be saved with this method.
In the UAV test operation planned by the Maritime Self-Defense Force in FY2022, it is planned to verify long-term wide-area surveillance and cooperation with manned aircraft. As a UAV that cooperates with manned patrol aircraft, the US Navy has put into practical use the MQ-4C "Triton" that cooperates with the P-8A "Poseidon" patrol aircraft.
However, since the MQ-4C "Triton" is not intended for use in anti-submarine operations and is also expensive, it is speculated that the Maritime Self-Defense Force is probably considering a different model.
As the author (Osamu Takeuchi: military journalist), what the Maritime Self-Defense Force is considering is probably a plan to install a "Sonobuoy" launcher (dropping device) that detects submarines and a cooperation plan with patrol aircraft, and MQ -4C "Triton" is cheaper than "Sea Guardian" and "Hermes 900 Maritime" developed by Israel's Elbit Systems. thinking about.