Japan’s Ministry of Defense is stepping up the enhancement of electronic warfare capabilities, including the collection of radar signals, communications and electronic interference.
It is planned to set up land self-defense force electronic warfare units in seven places starting from Kumamoto in March this year, deployed in Kyushu, Okinawa and Hokkaido and other places.
Land Self-Defense Force will be equipped with an advanced “network electronic warfare system” (NEWS), which has the ability to collect and analyze electronic signals, which can be used to weaken the opponent’s combat effectiveness.
In the 2021 budget, the funding for the procurement of the NEWS system is 8.7 billion yen.
According to the report, at present, the electronic warfare unit of the Japanese Self-Defense Force is only the first electronic unit established during the Cold War, stationed at the Higashi Chitose Base in Chitose City, Hokkaido.
It is reported that the scale of electronic warfare of the Land Self-Defense Force is expected to reach 450 by the end of this year, and will be further expanded in the future.
In the Outline of the Defense Plan released in December 2018, the Japanese government listed the electromagnetic field, space and the network as a new security field, believing that the electromagnetic field is “the front line of attack and defense in the current combat state”.
During the same period, the Medium-term Defense Preparedness Plan pointed out that in order to strengthen the combat capabilities in the new field, new electronic combat forces should be formed by the Land Self-Defense Force, and a special institution should be set up in the Ministry of Defense to improve the planning and coordination capabilities in the field of electromagnetics.
Before the establishment of the special force of electronic warfare, the Luzi Communication School in Kanagawa Prefecture began to educate its team members in electromagnetic waves.
Team members learn from various countries’ electronic warfare response and the expertise of “electromagnetic wave warfare” with a wider frequency range than before.
