Japanese Navy Deploys its Izumo Class Carrier to Support America's Three Supercarriers in Exercises Near the Korean Peninsula

With the United States having deployed its supercarriers USS Ronald Reagan, USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt off the Korean coast to carry out power projection exercises, Japan has dispatched its own fleet led by a formidable Izumo Class carrier to carry out a supporting role. Japan has an advanced carrier program, and its currently fields four domestically made carriers - two Hyuga Class ships and two larger Izumo class ships. With the Izumo serving as the largest warships in the Japanese Navy, displacing 27,000 tonnes each, their commissioning since 2015 has represented a major step forwards for Japan's naval development and particularly its power projection capabilities. Each Izumo class carrier can potentially be equipped with 27 aircraft, though these would require vertical takeoff capabilities similar to those of the F-35B.

The deployment of a Japanese carrier was not a welcome development either in Pyongyang or in Seoul, with the former accusing Japan of attempting to reconquer Korea alongside the United States and the latter claiming that Japan was seeking to remilitarize under the pretext of a North Korean threat. The carrier's deployment abroad, and indeed its very construction considering its role as a power projection platform, represent's Japan's gradual abandonment of its post war pacifist and non interventionist foreign policy. The Izumo's deployment is nevertheless a formidable asset to the United States, lending both significant moral and material support for U.S. military activities across the world from Iraq to Africa to the Pacific.