#pacific-theater

#pacific-theater

Air campaigns today are built around cooperation between many different aircraft, each performing a specific task. Stealth fighters lead the way into contested airspace, electronic warfare aircraft disrupt enemy radar, and bombers or strike fighters deliver precision weapons. Supporting aircraft provide intelligence, command and control, and the fuel needed to keep the entire operation moving.

WWII began with most naval powers still believing the battleship ruled the seas. Fleets were built around heavily armored ships with massive guns meant to destroy enemy navies in decisive surface battles. By the war's end, that thinking had changed dramatically. Aircraft carriers could strike targets hundreds of miles away, while submarines choked off supply lines across entire oceans.

While it is not legally ruled out, given the ongoing conflict, it is something that should be judged carefully. Any decision to dispatch Japanese military vessels to the Middle East to escort ships would face high hurdles, according to ruling Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi.

The major shift in the NDS lies in the shifting approach of the US Defense Department, which considers security of the homeland and Western Hemisphere its primary concern. The document noted that the US military would be guided by four central priorities: defend the homeland, push allies around the world away from reliance on the US military, strengthen defence industrial bases and deter China as opposed to a policy of containment.