Text Fwd: Japan Could Provide U.S. Quarter Million Troops For Asian NATO

Text Fwd by Rick Rozoff on Sept. 10, 2009

Reserve Forces Intelligence
September 10, 2009
The Japanese Reserve
by Cesar Pintado

-The Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law of October 2001, renewed in subsequent years, enabled the SDF to dispatch warships to the Indian Ocean to provide logistical support (primarily at-sea refueling) for allied military operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. It marked the first SDF deployment in a theater of war. The Iraq Humanitarian Reconstruction Support Special Measures Law of July 2003 permitted the government to deploy ground troops in Iraq to provide logistical support for the allied military campaign there. The SDF contingent that served in Iraq from January 2004 until July 2006 represented the largest and most dangerous overseas Japanese military operation since World War II.

-In February 2005, the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee (SCC) cited “the need to continue examining the roles, missions, and capabilities of Japan’s Self Defense Forces and the U.S. Armed Forces required to respond effectively to diverse challenges in a well-coordinated manner.” A few months later, Japanese forces participated for the first time in the Cobra Gold military exercise with the United States, Thailand, and Singapore. With 240,000 troops, extensive air and naval power, and a $50-billion annual budget, the SDF could provide key assistance to an overtaxed U.S. military in certain East Asian contingencies.

-The transformation of the SDF’s reserve components could facilitate Japanese participation in U.S.-led security missions in the Asia-Pacific region.

This is an extraction of an uncopyrighted work, The reserve policies of nations: a comparative analysis, by Richard Weitz and published by the Strategic Studies Institute. You can read the full text in http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil

The Japanese Self-Defense Force (SDF) is currently in a state of flux. Seeking to manage the new threats of the 21st century and remain interoperable with the U.S. military, the SDF is becoming more agile and technologically advanced. As part of this process, the SDF reserve components are undergoing a comprehensive transformation.

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