According to Japanese news on the 9th, the Japanese Ministry of Defense has finalized policies and will conduct relevant research to strengthen space transportation capabilities and ensure the stable operation of artificial satellite intelligence collection activities.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense believes that many countries are currently promoting the military use of space, and the strategic importance of space in terms of security continues to rise. Therefore, Japan plans to reorganize the Air Self-Defense Force into the "Aerospace Self-Defense Force" within this fiscal year and strengthen the use of artificial satellites for intelligence collection and other activities.
In addition, Japan is worried that in the event of an emergency, the satellites in orbit may lose their functions. Therefore, it needs to establish an emergency mechanism and rely on backup satellites to quickly restore its intelligence collection capabilities. To this end, the Ministry of Defense decided to conduct research and strengthen space transportation capabilities.
Specifically, the Ministry of Defense will openly solicit proposals from private enterprises in the near future, focusing on research on topics such as manufacturing satellite launch vehicles in a short period of time, supporting launch methods, and project costs, and strive to finalize cooperative enterprises around February next year. On this basis, the Ministry of Defense will also combine research results to formulate a new "space transportation concept."
In recent years, Japan has continued to accelerate the use of artificial satellites to build a military reconnaissance system. What is its intention? What impact will it have on the regional security situation?
Japanese Defense Administrative Officer Wakabayashi Yohei said in May this year that Japan’s low-orbit military reconnaissance network “satellite constellation” has begun operation in April. The "satellite constellation" is regarded as the Japanese version of "Starlink". In addition, Japan is also developing more cutting-edge tactical AI satellites. It plans to develop experimental models from 2027 to 2029 and conduct on-orbit testing in space as soon as fiscal year 2030.
Wei Dongxu, Taiwan Military Observer: Japan’s ambitions for space operations are unprecedentedly high. Currently, Japan is making preparations in two aspects. First, build a rapid satellite launch system and allow Japanese private technology companies to develop low-cost and rapid-launch small launch vehicles, so that more communication satellites and reconnaissance satellites can be launched to low-orbit levels in a short period of time to support Japan's external military expansion and overseas troop dispatch operations. Moreover, Japan's missiles are now hitting farther and farther, and the range of the Type 25 land-based anti-ship missile is close to 1,000 kilometers. In the future, the strike range of improved cruise missiles, including upgraded versions of hypersonic missiles, will be further extended, which will require more satellites to conduct target reconnaissance and acquisition in a wide area.
Wei Dongxu, Taiwan Military Observer: Secondly, Japan has further strengthened its intelligence analysis capabilities on orbiting satellites, that is, developing and launching AI satellites. The biggest advantage of AI satellites is that after acquiring intelligence, it can independently analyze and filter the intelligence, transmitting only high-value targets and the most important intelligence required for Self-Defense Force operations to the ground to support Japanese combat operations.
