Japan Launches Carrier They Says Isn’t A Carrier

I think it is pretty clear that the Japanese are keeping their options open with their new “destroyer”:

Japan on Thursday launched the helicopter destroyer Kaga, the second version of the largest ship the nation has produced since World War II.

Kaga’s completion at Japan Marine United’s Yokohama Isogo plant gives Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force two Izumo-class helicopter destroyers, alongside two smaller Hyuga-class destroyers.

None of those vessels looks anything like the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The flat-top ships more closely resemble aircraft carriers, though they aren’t equipped with arresting wires, ski-jump ramps or other features used to launch fighter jets. The anti-war clause of Japan’s constitution has long been interpreted to bar weapons deemed offensive in nature, which includes aircraft carriers.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link, but the deck on this ship is large enough to support both V-22 Ospreys and F-35B vertical take off fighters.  It will be interesting if these ships will be offered up for future Joint training with the US Marine Corps.