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DDH-183 Izumo 22DDH Class - Aircraft Carrier

The Izumo 22DDH Class is designed to be a vessel which is conscious of the Chinese Navy, and to support civil disaster relief operation and the United Nations Peace Keeping Operations (PKO). The helicopter destroyer has a length some 25% greater than the 197 meter 16DDH Hyuuga. At 248 meters [813 feet] the 22DDH is comparable to the Italian Cavour of 244 meters [some reports claim 284 meters or 925 feet for the 22DDHH, but this seems to be wrong]. The full-length aircraft carrier type deck extends from the bow to the stern. The light displacement was reported as 19,500 tons, a 44% increase over the 16DDH, while the full loaded displacement is probably comparable to the 27,000 ton displacement of the Italian Cavour.

The "helicopter destroyer" looks like an aircraft carrier, which raised questions that it would violate Japan's pacifist Constitution. As in the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq, aircraft carriers have been a main maritime base of attack for the US military. In light of the constitutional ban in Article 9 on possessing "land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential," the government in 1988 issued a statement that said, "Because offensive aircraft carriers exceed the war potential needed for a minimum level of self-defense, possession of such ships is prohibited by the Constitution."

Japan’s new class of “helicopter destroyer” vessels have secretly been designed for fixed-wing aircraft takeoff and landing (STOVL) operations, allowing them to serve as aircraft carriers toting around fifth-generation F-35B aircraft, a retired Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force told Asahi Shimbun in April 2018. A secret deal was reached at the earliest stages of the Izumo program to design the ships to be modular enough for conversion into a vessel that could carry F-35B aircraft, according to a JMSDF executive who also spoke with the news outlet.

Two Izumo-class ships, JS Izumo and JS Kaga, were already primed for F-35B operations, even though the country hasn't pulled the trigger on a purchase of the STOVL-capable jets. A Japanese official recently confirmed that a purchase of 25 F-35As — the jet's traditional runway variant — is in the pipeline but a decision on F-35B aircraft has not been reached. While Washington and Tokyo maintain close defense ties, the F-35A was originally designated as the primary US export-variant joint strike fighter, with the UK as the lone exception. Downing Street has committed to buying 138 F-35Bs, the Financial Times reported last November.

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera denied that any "specific efforts" were being made to customize Izumo warships to handle F-35B operations. "No concrete examination is under way on the introduction of F-35B or remodeling of Izumo-class destroyers," the minister told reporters in December 2017.

The new "22DDH" is larger than the medium-sized regular aircraft carriers of the former Imperial Navy that attacked Pearl Harbor.

The 22DDH could possibly use the F-35B carrier-based aircraft, and so might be considered as a light aircraft carrier. First, it is necessary to meet thermal performance of the deck, the condition of the weight of the aircraft carrier take-off and landing is light. Since laying an enhanced deck is possible, the thermal performance of the deck would not be a problem for Japan. The maximum take-off weight of the F-35B will reach 27 tons, but for take-off and landing of large carrier-based aircraft, this is also not an issue. The 22DDH could possibly accomodate 12 or more F-35B carrier-based aircraft. The F-35B fighter has a vertical takeoff and landing capability, so that even though the 22DDH is not equipped with a catapult, there is no problem operating the F-35B with flat deck withouth a ski-jump.

Despite the Defense Ministry's denial that the helicopter carrier Izumo, launched in 2015, was planned to be refitted into an aircraft carrier, former Maritime Self-Defense Force executives confirmed that that is how the blueprints were drawn up. “It is only reasonable to design (the Izumo) with the prospect of possible changes of the circumstances in the decades ahead,” a then MSDF executive told The Asahi Shimbun 23 February 2018. “We viewed that whether the Izumo should be actually refitted could be decided by the government.” The former executive said a consensus was reached privately among the MSDF that the Izumo should be considered for conversion into an aircraft carrier. But the MSDF couldn't explain the need publicly due to the government's view that aircraft carriers capable of launching large-scale attacks are equivalent to the military capability prohibited by the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. Ever since the Izumo's construction, experts both in and outside Japan have pointed out the possibility of turning it into a full-fledged aircraft carrier. However, the Defense Ministry publicly denied any plan to deploy fighter jets with strike capabilities on the Izumo and contended that it was not an aircraft carrier.

Izumo’s elevator connecting the deck with the hangar was designed to accommodate the F-35B fighter, which measures about 15 meters in length and about 11 meters in width. Paint that can withstand the exhaust heat generated from F-35 fighter jets during landings and takeoffs was selected for the deck of the Izumo. It has also been expected to retrofit the Izumo with a sloping deck for takeoffs (ski-jump), the former MSDF executives told Asahi.

DDV 192 Ibuki

DDV 192 Ibuki is a fictional aircraft carrier from the manga comic "Kubo Ibuki" (Aircraft Carrier Ibuki) penned by Kawaguchi Kaiji (with support from Eya Osamu), which was first serialized from the December 2014 issue of Shogakukan publication Big Comic. Events in the story occur in the year 20XX. against a backdrop of increasing territorial tensions around the Japanese archipelago. The Ibuki is in fact an imaginary adaptation of an actual design - that of the DDH22 Izumo class helicopter destroyer and borrows its name from a WWII ship that was designed as a heavy cruiser, converted during construction into an aicraft carrier and eventually scrapped in the Japanese port of Sasebo without having seen action.

It is desiged to carry the F-35JB STOVL (Short Take-Offand Vertical-Landing) jet, and has a number of accompanying changes from the Izumo: a ski-jump take-off ramp for enhanced fuel efficiency, improved deck heat shielding to withstand scorching F-35JB landings, and a larger aircraft fuel tank capacity. Quarters were also installcd for the air wing.

In Japanese Self Derense Forces terms, Ihuki was the largest ship of the fleet: 248 meters [806 feet] long and 49 meters tall, she had a displacement of 19,500 tons, rising to 26,000 at full load [that is, essentially the specifications of the actual DDH-183 Izumo 22DDH Class]. Four Gcneral Electric LM2500 gas turbines and two variable pitch propellers give the Ibuki 112,000 horsepowcr. Her flight deck measures 245 meters in length by 38 meters in width, excluding her starboard deck-edge ellevator. An additional elevator is installed in the center of the deck; in total, thc Ibuki can hold a maximum of fifteen F-35JB aircraft, which can be parked in the 125 x 21-meter shuttered hangar, which can be partitioned into two separate separated areas if desired. A dedicated weapons bay for F-35JB ordnance has its own elevator accessing the deck.

DDH-183 Izumo + EML

Japan dreams of becoming a "normal country". However, it is bound by historical reasons and other factors. However, with the changes in the international situation these years, Japan has begun to actively expand its armament and prepare to go overseas. In November 2019 at a defense exhibition held in Japan, General Atomics exhibited a renovation plan considered to be a unique type of destroyer equipped with an electromagnetic catapult. If General Atomics is able to successfully implement the modification plan, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will directly have medium-sized aircraft carriers that are far superior to neighboring countries.

Japan has decided to transform the "Izumo" class helicopter carrier into a true carrier and equip it with F-35B carrier-based fighter aircraft. Japan has a desire to upgrade to a full-fledged aircraft carrier," and introduce the F-35C Navy-type figure that supports catapult launcher, not the F-35B. The F-35C is slightly larger than the F-35B, and has a stronger weapon carrying capacity and range. The rebuilt "Izumo" class aircraft carrier would also add E-2C/D "Hawkeye" early warning aircraft and V-22 "Osprey" transport aircraft. The Izumo-class is limited in size. Even after the innovation, it will be able to carry about 10 carrier-based aircraft, 6 in the hangar, and 4 to 5 on the ship deck.

The electromagnetic ejection method is more efficient than traditional steam ejection, with smaller size and more powerful functions. The position of the elevator that moves the aircraft to the deck is completely different from the type destroyer. But, the electromagnetic ejection technology is immature. The latest "Ford" US aircraft carrier's electromagnetic ejection technology is being provided by General Atomics. However, on the Ford, initially, the power of the electromagnetic ejector's cooling system was insufficient, causing hidden dangers, and the new type of electromagnetic launcher could not be used normally.

But the current type of destroyer is only 38m wide, and it is unusual to show that a military aircraft can be placed on a deck of this width and aircraft carriers can be operated. The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle equipped with an American-made steam catapult has a maximum width of 64 m, a total length of 261 m, which is one size larger than a type destroyer, and trying to operate the F-35C with a catapult equipped ship it is thought that at least this size is needed.

According to the position of the deck carrier aircraft shown in the figure, the F-35C at the front end of the deck has blocked the take-off runway, and the landing runway at the rear end of the deck has two Osprey transport aircrafts. According to this design, the carrier The aircraft could neither take off nor land. Moreover, even if the problem is solved, experts still say that the plan is not reliable. Due to space limitations on the flight deck, take-off and landing operations cannot be performed at the same time, and the starboard parking area must be emptied when the two ejection tracks are fully operational, which is equivalent to the fact that only four F-35Cs can be placed on the deck.