From the Chosun:
Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force dropped live bombs near Guam as part of an exercise last month, the New York Times reported Monday. The U.S. daily said Japan practiced dropping 500-pound live bombs as part of its annual joint drill with the U.S., which is held at the U.S. Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. “The exercise would have been unremarkable for almost any other military, but it was highly significant for Japan, a country still restrained by a Constitution that renounces war and allows forces only for its defense.”
The exercise, which involved flying directly to Guam to drop the bombs and immediately return home shows the island country’s capability to attack a target in North Korea in the same way, the NYT said, which may prompt North Korea to consider the exercise an unacceptable provocation.
It seems like from a Japanese perspective that when a hostile nation has kidnapped your citizens, fired a tactical ballistic missile over your country, and has since developed nuclear weapons, it might be prudent to train your Air Force to be able to defend the country.
Popularity: 3%
11:32 pm on July 24th, 2007 1
Sheesh.
My grandfather was on Guam in WWII.
We fought to take the island in the 40s… then we sold it back to them, beach front property by beach front property in the 80s… and now, we let them bomb it.
He’d roll in his grave… if he hadn’t been cremated.
J!
1:00 am on July 25th, 2007 2
I’m sure we are going to be hearing about this one from the Korean and Chinese press…
9:31 pm on July 25th, 2007 3
There is no bombing range on Guam — but they were prepping the Tinian Island range for increased traffic — especially with the expanding military presence in 2012.
What is significant to me is not the dropping of live bombs, but the inflight refueling capabilities for the Japanese fighters by the Japanese tankers — meaning capabilities to bomb any perceived threats from the disputed islands with China, the air coverage of Tokdo if it ever came to that (ROK with F-15K can last only an hour or so over the area), and most pointedly — the North.
9:54 pm on July 25th, 2007 4
Good point Kalani that is quite interesting that the Japanese have mastered air refueling to conduct bombing missions.
5:50 am on July 26th, 2007 5
Minor correction on my comment. The use of the Tinian range was requested for the expansion of the forces in Guam.
The current range is the Farallon de Medinilla, an uninhabited
200-acre island, stands about 280 feet above sea
level and its’ size is approximately 3 miles by
1/2 mile. The Farallon de Medinilla Target Range
is located about 150 miles north of Guam and is
leased from the Government of the Commonwealth of
the Northern Marianas Islands. The Farallon de
Medinilla Target Range is the Pacific Fleet’s
only U.S.-controlled range available for
live-fire training for forward deployed naval
forces.” Cited in “Farallon de Medinilla (FDM)
16° 01′ north latitude, 146° 04′ east”,
GlobalSecurity.org. (Source: Farallon de Medinilla.)
6:35 am on July 26th, 2007 6
Bombing run…
I wouldn’t worry too much about what North Korea thinks the Guam exercise is provocative or not. How did Japan feel when Kim Jong-Il fired his rockets last year after all? The Japanese may need to use those bombers one day against North Korea one day….
7:19 am on July 26th, 2007 7
Just like ole times
2:17 pm on July 28th, 2007 8
This is the beginning of the end for that little Chapter.
(Chapter II, Article: 9)
History will repeat itself.
6:18 pm on July 28th, 2007 9
no1uno,
Unless you mean Chapter II, Article: 9 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, I presume you mean the Japanese constitution and all that anti-war nonsense.
Come on, man… we have a War on Terror to fight… anyone who wishes to join the Coalition of the Willing shouldn’t be held back by some arbitrary document which has outlived its usefulness of 50 years ago. America supports a high-tech militarized Japan!
…but, more seriously, a big, bad China is preparing to come on-line… a China hungry for energy and minerals. Do you want to fight these guys? Or even a Cold War of sorts? No… let the Japanese put the Fear into them… and they’ll do it, too. They need oil and steel as well… and want no Payback from a newly-powerful China preparing to project its newfound power and increase its sphere of influence. Besides, if they are busy hating each other, they aren’t being haters to us, eh?
And, as a bonus, a militant Japan is a better counter to North Korea than a coddling Roh administration… although, for the record, unlike many, I don’t necessarily disagree with South Korea’s stand on North Korea. Someday, the two countries will have to work together… why not make that semi-unification as easy as possible.
Until then, Tora, tora, tora!
J!
7:25 pm on July 28th, 2007 10
chickenhead,
of course i mean the constitution, are you trying to be silly?
china could smell a weenie, and salivates for its next meal.
10:54 pm on July 28th, 2007 11
I guess China is ready to gulp down the main course as well…
(This is not conceding that the Chinese military can, or will be able to in the next 50 years, chop down the Japanese military force even as it now stands)…
But, China deciding to take on Japan as a minor meal would bring about that great conflict with the United States some people frequently crow about and some seem to desire….