Japan launched the first submarine of Taigei class this week in Kobe.
The Taigei and its sister subs are larger, quieter successors to Soryu-class submarines.
It has length of 84 m, displaces around 3000 tonnes and will accommodate 70 crew members.
Taigei, meaning “big whale,” will now undergo testing and outfitting.
As per reports, it will be ready for operational deployment in 2022.
The Taigei brings Japan’s submarine fleet to 22.
Viewers may note that this was the goal set by Japan’s Ministry of Defense in 2010.
The last of the 12 Soryu class submarines is under construction and a total of 7 Taigeis
are planned for now.
As these vessels become available, it will allow the retirement of some older Oyashio-class
submarines which are now close to the end of their service lives.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how Japan’s latest Taigei class submarine will
be an excellent deterrence to China?
Let’s get started
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Japan has watched as the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has gone from a green water
navy capable of operating only in regional seas relatively close to home to a full-fledged
blue water fleet operating as far as the Indian Ocean and Baltic Sea.
China has maintained very high economic growth over the last 20 years & has become a major
economic power.
It has spent heavily on military buildup & modernized its military forces.
The PLAN is now considerably larger than Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force in both overall
tonnage and number of vessels.
China’s rise, as predicted by many experts is not peaceful.
In recent times, China has been very aggressive in its posturing.
Its activities are far off from being a sensible nation.
China’s corrosive behaviors in the South China Sea and neighboring areas have not gone
noticed.
Japan has been increasingly conscious of the fact that its territory which is surrounded
by waters is vulnerable to naval strikes from Japanese undersea and surface combatants.
Keeping this in view, Japan is looking for ways to strengthen its submarine fleet.
Japan’s postwar submarine fleet is one of the best in the world.
With an authorized total of 22 submarines, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force’s
submarine fleet is also one of the largest.
Japan builds its own submarines, with the work split between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, both based in the port city of Kobe.
Japan takes an iterative approach to submarine construction, with a new submarine class introduced
roughly every twenty years that builds upon previous ones.
The Soryu class builds upon the older Oyashio class, and the two classes form the entirety
of the fleet till now.
Taigei will use an advanced lithium battery system, pioneered on the last two Soryu submarines
built.
Ōryū the 11th Soryu class vessel is the world's first lithium-ion battery submarine.
The JMSDF is currently the only naval service in the world to have installed this technology
aboard a submarine.
Lithium-ion batteries have almost double the electric storage capacity of traditional lead-acid
batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries will enable the submarines to shut off its diesel-electric propulsion
and operate on battery power alone for long periods underwater improving the underwater
endurance significantly.
Viewers may note that batteries are way less noisy than diesel-electric engines and reduce
the subs acoustic signature, making detection harder.
JMSDF believes that lithium-ion is the way forward.
Each submarine has an optronic mast and ZPS-6F surface/low-level air search radar for the
detection of enemy Anti Submarine Warefare and maritime patrol craft.
To detect enemy warships and submarines, Taigei has bow-and-flank-mounted Hughes/Oki ZQQ-7
sonar arrays.
It is also equipped with a towed array sonar capable of detecting ships over 70 km or 37
nautical miles away.
The Taigei-class is fitted with six HU-606 533 mm torpedo tubes that can accommodate
Type 89 heavyweight torpedoes for anti submarine operations and UGM-84 Harpoon for anti-ship
role.
The Type 89 torpedo is a submarine-launched homing torpedo produced by Japan’s Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries.
It replaced the unguided Type 72 torpedo.
Development was done by the Technical Research and Development Institute, a department of
the Ministry of Defense, and began in 1970, with the design completed by 1984.
Developed from the Type 80 torpedo, it is similar in its capabilities to the United
States Mark 48 ADCAP torpedo.
After being formally approved in 1989 and named "Type 89", it entered service.
It is a wire-guided torpedo that features both active and passive homing modes.
Compared to Mk-48 torpedo, it is slightly longer and heavier, but has a marginally smaller
warhead (267 kg or 588 lbs compared to 295 kg or 650 lbs).
However, it can be used at a greater depth (900 m vs. 800 m for the Mk-48).
The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile, developed and manufactured
by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security).
The submarine-launched variant is fitted with a solid-fuel rocket booster and encapsulated
in a container to enable submerged launch through a torpedo tube
The missile has subsonic speed and capable of hitting targets more than 70 miles or 112 km away.
It must be noted here that China is already witnessing an economic slowdown and the recent
events will surely see a push back by many countries.
In this situation, China’s aggressive military posturing may come back to haunt it if Japan
restarts its militarization.
It must be noted that Japan already has a strong military though it has not gone all
out in its pursuit.
If Japan decisively takes that path, it could rise in a very short time.
Another important aspect is the U.S is Japan’s ally and is bound by the treaty of 'Mutual
Cooperation and Security' to come to Japan’s aid in case Japan faces aggression from an
external party.
So, if a conflict breaks out, Japan will need to hold off China for some time till full-fledged
American support is received.
Keeping this scenario in mind we can easily see that the fleet of Taigei along with Sōryū-class
subs will play a major role.