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Japan Ground Self-Defense Force

 
Wikipedia: Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
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Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
陸上自衛隊 (Rikujō Jieitai)
Flag of JSDF.svg

Command
Ground Staff Office
Components
Northern Army
North Eastern Army
Eastern Army
Middle Army
Western Army
Central Readiness Force
JGSDF Reserve
JGSDF Reserve Candidate

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (陸上自衛隊 Rikujō Jieitai?), or JGSDF, is the military ground force (army) of Japan. The largest of the three services of the JSDF, the Ground Self-Defense Force operates under the command of the chief of the ground staff, based in the city of Ichigaya, Tokyo. The present chief of ground staff is General Yoshifumi Hibako. The JGSDF numbers around 147,000 soldiers.

Contents

History

Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration in 1945, and, based on Potsdam Declaration Article 9, the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy were dismantled. Both were replaced by United States Armed Forces occupation force, which assumed responsibility for the defense of Japan.

The National Security Board started in 1952. The National Security Board oversaw police reserve forces, Maritime Guard and Maritime Safety Agency minesweeping corps, and were reorganized by the National Security Force. These changes were influenced by the Korean War.

The building of the defense ability advanced, and, on July 1, 1954, the National Security Board was reorganized by the Defense Agency, and the National Security Force and the garrison were reorganized afterwards by the Ground Self-Defense Force, the Marine Self Defense Force, the Air Self-Defense Force.

For a long period, the effectiveness of the Japan Ground Self Defence Force to hold off a Soviet invasion of Hokkaido was in doubt, as Zbigniew Brzezinski observed in 1972 that it seemed optimised to fight ‘a Soviet invasion conducted on American patterns of a quarter of a century ago.’[1] While the force is now an efficient army of 148,000,[2] its apparent importance has declined with the end of the Cold War, and attempts to reorient the forces as a whole to new post Cold War missions have been tangled in a series of internal political disputes.

Organization

JGSDF Middle Army headquarters in Itami, Japan

Tactical organization

The GSDF consists of the following tactical units:

  • one (the 7th) armored division,
  • nine infantry divisions, reduced from 12, each with three or four battalion-sized infantry regiments,
  • one airborne brigade,
  • two (1st and 2nd) combined brigades,
  • four training brigades,
  • one artillery brigade with two groups,
  • two air defense brigades with three groups,
  • one helicopter brigade with twenty-four squadrons and two anti-tank helicopter platoons.

There are two sizes of JGSDF divisions: 9,000 men and 7,000 men.

A JGSDF brigade is a combined arms unit with infantry, armored, and artillery units, combat support units and logistical support units. It is a regionally independent and permanent entity. Though its function is similar to a division in that it possesses the capability to engage in operations on one front, it is smaller with only 3,000 to 4,000 personnel.

Special Forces

Special Forces units consist of the following:

Regional organization

A Japan Ground Self Defense Force officer candidate tries on a PDF-14 Night Vision Scope Aug. 29 during the Japanese Observer Exchange Program on Camp Schwab
  • The Northern Army, the largest, is headquartered on Sapporo, Hokkaidō, where population and geographic constraints are less limiting than elsewhere.
    • 2nd Division
    • 7th Division(Armored)
    • 5th Brigade
    • 11th Brigade
    • 1st Artillery Brigade
    • 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade
    • 3rd Engineer Brigade
    • Hokkaido Depot(Northern)
  • The North Eastern Army is headquartered in Sendai, Miyagi
    • 6th Division
    • 9th Division
    • 2nd Engineer Brigade
    • North Eastern Army Combined Brigade
    • Tohoku Depot(North Eastern)
Members of the JGSDF.
  • The Eastern Army is headquartered in Nerima, Tokyo
    • 1st Division
    • 12th Brigade
    • 1st Engineer Brigade
    • 1st Training Brigade
    • Kanto Depot(Eastern)
  • The Middle Army, headquartered in Itami, Hyōgo
    • 3rd Division
    • 10th Division
    • 13th Brigade
    • 14th Brigade
    • 4th Engineer Brigade
    • 2nd Training Brigade
    • Kansai Depot(Middle)
  • The Western Army, is headquartered at Kengun, Kumamoto
    • 4th Division
    • 8th Division
    • 1st Combined Brigade
    • 2nd Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade
    • 5th Engineer Brigade
    • 3rd Training Brigade
    • Kyusyu Depot(Western)
JGSDF uniform.
  • Other Units and Organizations
    • Materiel Control Command
    • Ground Research & Development Command
    • Signal Brigade
    • Military Police
    • Military Intelligence Command
    • Intelligence Security Command
    • Ground Staff College
    • Ground Officer Candidate School
    • Others

Training

Japan Ground Self Defense Force officer candidates

In 1989, basic training for lower-secondary and upper-secondary academy graduates began in the training brigade and lasted approximately three months. Specialized enlisted and non-commissioned officer (NCO) candidate courses were available in branch schools and qualified NCOs could enter an eight-to-twelve-week second lieutenant candidate program. Senior NCOs and graduates of an eighty-week NCO pilot course were eligible to enter officer candidate schools, as were graduates of the National Defense Academy at Yokosuka and graduates of four-year all universities. Advanced technical, flight, medical and command and staff officer courses were also run by the GSDF. Like the maritime and air forces, the GSDF ran a youth cadet program offering technical training to lower-secondary school graduates below military age in return for a promise of enlistment.

Because of population density on the Japanese islands, only limited areas were available for large-scale training, and, even in these areas, noise restrictions were a problem. The GSDF tried to adapt to these conditions by conducting command post exercises and map maneuvers and by using simulators and other training devices, as well as conducting training exercises overseas (see Yakima Washington).

Current equipment

Tank Type 90 of Japan Ground Self Defense Force
Tank Type 74 of Japan Ground Self Defense Force

Tanks

Infantry fighting vehicles

Self-propelled artillery

Towed artillery

Mortars

Armoured vehicles

Armoured personnel carriers

Air defense vehicles

Anti-aircraft guns

ATGMs and ASMs

SAMs

Other vehicles

White Mitsubishi Type 73 jeeps used by JGSDF Military Police units.

Small arms

Future equipment

Type 10 tank—Production to start in 2010–2011

Aircraft inventory

The JGSDF operates 548 aircraft, including 532 helicopters.

JGSDF AH-1S
Aircraft Origin Type Versions In service Notes
Beechcraft Super King Air  United States Utility transport LR-2 5
Bell 205  United States Utility helicopter UH-1H
UH-1J		 161 Built by Fuji
Bell AH-1 Cobra  United States Attack helicopter AH-1S 88 Built by Fuji
Boeing AH-64 Apache  United States Attack helicopter AH-64DJP 55 Under delivery
Kawasaki-Vertol 107  Japan Transport helicopter KV-107 18
Boeing CH-47 Chinook  United States Transport helicopter CH-47J
CH-47JA		 56 Built by Kawasaki
Eurocopter Super Puma  European Union VIP helicopter AS 332L 3
Eurocopter EC 225  European Union VIP helicopter EC 225LP 1 Replacing the AS332L[3][4]
Kawasaki OH-1  Japan Scout helicopter 22[5] Under delivery
MD Helicopters MD 500  Japan Scout helicopter OH-6D
OH-6J		 48
115		 Built by Kawasaki
Mitsubishi MU-2  Japan liaison LR-1 11
UH-60 Black Hawk  United States transport helicopter UH-60JA 23 Built by Mitsubishi

Past equipment

Small arms

Tanks

Artillery

Anti-aircraft guns

Other armoured fighting vehicles

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Fragile Blossom (Harper, 1972) p.95, in James H. Buck, ‘The Japanese Military in the 1980s,’ in James H. Buck (ed.), The Modern Japanese Military System, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills/London, 1975, p.220
  2. ^ IISS Military Balance 2008, Routledge, London, 2008, p.384
  3. ^ Eurocopter Canada - News 04/07/06
  4. ^ EADS Press Release - Japan Defense Agency Received First EC225 In VIP Configuration For The Japanese Emperor’s Royal Flight Service
  5. ^ 2009 World Military Aircraft Inventory: Japan. Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 26, 2009, p. 240. Accessed 5 July 2009.
  6. ^ a b Licensed by Howa.
  7. ^ Small number of M3s are held in reserve by various JGSDF special forces units.

References

External links

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