The combat power against China is greatly increased! U.S. think tank is optimistic about Japan building nuclear-powered submarines and estimates the mission in the Philippine Sea to last 85 days

A screen shot of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s whale-class submarine “Kagawa” (SS-517) sailing. The ship was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and uses diesel-electric power; Japan is currently studying whether to use nuclear power for propulsion for the next generation of submarines.

The Japanese government is considering including discussions related to nuclear-powered submarines in the security document revised at the end of the year, which has attracted great international attention. In addition to internal discussions within Japanese political circles, some think tanks and military personnel in the United States have also recently adopted an open attitude towards this issue. U.S. experts analyzed that if Japan can possess nuclear-powered submarines, it will help curb the expansion of the Chinese navy, and its continuous combat time in the Philippine Sea and South China Sea will be far longer than existing conventional diesel-electric submarines.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi stated in a parliamentary meeting in late October that he would "explore various options" for the introduction of nuclear power and other propulsion systems for next-generation submarines, sending a positive signal. As the Chinese navy continues to expand its activities outside the first island chain, the attitudes of some US military and think tanks towards Japan's underwater combat capabilities have also changed.

A report by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a US think tank, pointed out that nuclear-powered submarines can allow Japan to play a more important role in curbing the expansion and modernization of the Chinese navy. The report believes that the Chinese Navy may gradually transform into a fleet structure dominated by nuclear-powered submarines in the next 10 years; a U.S. Navy official also said in an interview in September that the Tokyo authorities should consider acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

Brent Sadler, a senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, evaluated the combat effectiveness of nuclear-powered submarines. He estimated that if Yokosuka is used as a base, Japanese nuclear-powered submarines can continue to perform missions in the Philippine Sea for up to 85 days, which is more than twice that of traditional diesel-electric submarines; and the continuous combat time in the South China Sea can be more than four times that of diesel-electric submarines.

However, the report also points out that Japan faces daunting challenges if it wants to advance this idea. In addition to the fact that the United States must break the convention of only sharing nuclear-powered submarine technology with the United Kingdom and Australia, Japan must also establish an independent nuclear safety supervision and supervision system and cultivate professional and technical personnel for operation and maintenance.

Naoto Sekimura, an honorary professor at the University of Tokyo and an expert on nuclear energy safety and nuclear fuel, pointed out that the possession of nuclear-powered submarines and their ability to operate safely should be discussed separately, and the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines will also cause issues related to the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and both diplomatic and legal risks must be properly handled.