Japan may allow the US to bring nuclear weapons into their country

[Yusuf]

Japan may allow the United States to bring nuclear weapons into the country in an emergency that threatens the safety of Japanese citizens, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida indicated Friday. Japanese Foreign Minister in a briefing to lawmakers sketched out specific exceptions under which the country's longstanding principles against the development, hosting and possession of nuclear arms could be partially set aside, Kyodo News reported.

Speaking at a session of a Diet committee, Kishida outlined certain exceptions under Japan's long-held principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory.
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has maintained the position held by the previous government, Kishida said in response to questions from Katsuya Okada, a former foreign minister and senior lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
Okada in 2010 led a probe by the DPJ-led government, disclosing Japan and the United States signed secret pacts during the Cold War era, including an agreement under which Tokyo would allow U.S. nuclear-armed vessels to make port calls in Japan.
Kishida told the House of Representatives' Budget Committee that he adhered to an earlier account made by Okada that whether the government would "adamantly observe the (non-nuclear) principles despite threats to people's safety depends on the decision of the administration in power."
"The future cannot be determined in advance," Kishida also cited Okada as saying previously, suggesting the United States could bring nuclear weapons into Japan in emergencies.
In a relevant move, Abe admitted last month it was a "mistake" that the previous governments under his Liberal Democratic Party had continued to deny the existence of the Japan-U.S. secret pacts, which had been declassified in the United States.

http://bit.ly/1lRgGDJ

 

[Free Karma]

I dont understand this Japanese attitude, keep being non nuclear, but at the same time be okay with the U.S using their grounds for nukes, because, they need it to serve as a deterrence... while it makes them more and more dependent on the U.S.
I have heard some rumours that if Japan wants to go nuclear itself it can do so in a span of months (I think was in a talk by some Indian-Singaporean diplomat)

For the U.S this is nice, can keep missiles close to both Russia and China.

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

It would be better if India and Japan do a JV and design a new age ICBM which is powerful and very modern missile.

 

[t_co]

It would be better if India and Japan do a JV and design a new age ICBM which is powerful and very modern missile.

That seems farfetched; ICBMs are the crown jewels of a nation's military technology, and only allies as close as the United States and Britain have co-developed them (France wasn't even invited).

 

[Illusive]

It would be better if India and Japan do a JV and design a new age ICBM which is powerful and very modern missile.

Japan won't need an ICBM to target China, even if Japan decides to have nukes, they'd go in long range cruise missiles and hypersonic class. We can develop ICBM's by ourselves anyway, it'd be better and MTCR means we cannot do JV in long range missiles.

 

[Srinivas_K]

That seems farfetched; ICBMs are the crown jewels of a nation's military technology, and only allies as close as the United States and Britain have co-developed them (France wasn't even invited).

India already posses ICBM technology, you are talking about 1950's technology.

 

[t_co]

India already posses ICBM technology, you are talking about 1950's technology.

Sesha was referring to a 'new age' ICBM, one which presumably incorporates the latest developments in rocketry, microelectronics, satellite guidance, etc.

 

[Srinivas_K]

Sesha was referring to a 'new age' ICBM, one which presumably incorporates the latest developments in rocketry, microelectronics, satellite guidance, etc.

India has all those technologies needed including MIRV's. India demonstrated MIRV's and other advanced tech. By placing multiple satellites in the orbit.

 

[t_co]

India has all those technologies needed including MIRV's. India demonstrated MIRV's and other advanced tech. By placing multiple satellites in the orbit.

First, the point was that nations don't share all those technologies with each other, unless the nations are close partners on the level of the United States and Britain.

Second, putting multiple satellites into orbit on the same rocket is a much simpler engineering problem than putting multiple warheads into multiple targets with the same ICBM. The Agni-V's internal systems are currently incapable of mating with a MIRV'd launch bus.

 

[Srinivas_K]

First, the point was that nations don't share all those technologies with each other, unless the nations are close partners on the level of the United States and Britain.

Space technologies and ICBM's have some similarity. India is have been developing these technologies.

Second, putting multiple satellites into orbit on the same rocket is a much simpler engineering problem than putting multiple warheads into multiple targets with the same ICBM. The Agni-V's internal systems are currently incapable of mating with a MIRV'd launch bus.

Both are similar, launching ten satellites with a single rocket is similar to firing a MIRV. The guidance of the satellites can be used to guide the MIRV war heads to their targets.

 

[kseeker]

I will have to agree with @t_co in regards to JV on ICBMs.

When it comes to long range missiles, we are not less than any permanent five's. If at all Japs need Indian assistance in developing ICBMs, they need to approach us with a request not the other way around. Moreover, why would Japs come to us when Amreeka is already giving them what they want?

 

[t_co]

Space technologies and ICBM's have some similarity. India is have been developing these technologies.

That's a very vague statement. Of course ICBMs and space launches both use some common technologies, and India has been developing those technologies. But it doesn't prove that India currently has MIRV capabilities.

Both are similar, launching ten satellites with a single rocket is similar to firing a MIRV.

First, no, they're not similar. Second, ISRO has never launched ten satellites with a single rocket. Third, the primary limitation of MIRV capability as it relates to launch vehicles is payload weight and the velocity at which the satellites are placed into orbit, not the number of satellites ISRO can put into orbit on a single rocket. 10 extremely light satellites don't mean much...

The guidance of the satellites can be used to guide the MIRV war heads to their targets.

Again, that's a very vague statement, so vague as to make it categorically non-unique. What do you mean by 'guidance'? What system or technology are you referring to? Depending on the answers, your statement becomes true or false.

 

[Srinivas_K]

That's a very vague statement. Of course ICBMs and space launches both use some common technologies, and India has been developing those technologies. But it doesn't prove that India currently has MIRV capabilities.
First, no, they're not similar. Second, ISRO has never launched ten satellites with a single rocket. Third, the primary limitation of MIRV capability as it relates to launch vehicles is payload weight and the velocity at which the satellites are placed into orbit, not the number of satellites ISRO can put into orbit on a single rocket. 10 extremely light satellites don't mean much...

May be you should have checked the info. before denying that PSLV launched 10 satellites in a single mission.

PSLV-C9 is the thirteenth flight of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the third flight of its 'Core Alone' version as well. In this flight, PSLV launched ten payloads - India's 690 kg CARTOSAT-2A and 83 kg Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1) as well as eight nanosatellites from abroad together weighing about 50 kg into a 635 km high polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) inclined at an angle of 97.94 deg to the equator.

With much lighter payloads compared to the ones placed into orbit by its standard version, PSLV-C9 is configured without the six solid propellant strap-on motors of the first stage. The previous two launches of PSLV were also such 'Core Alone' versions. The Core Alone PSLV-C9 had a lift-off mass of 230 tonne.

PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO with eleven consecutively successful flights so far. Since its first successful launch in 1994, PSLV has launched eight Indian remote sensing satellites, HAMSAT - an amateur radio satellite, SRE-1 - a recoverable space capsule and six small satellites for foreign customers into 550-800 km high polar Sun Synchronous Orbits (SSO). Besides, it has launched two satellites from abroad into Low Earth Orbits (LEO) of low or medium inclination. PSLV has also launched KALPANA-1 - India's exclusive meteorological satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). PSLV will be used to launch Chandrayaan-1 -India's first spacecraft mission to moon, during 2008.

In its standard configuration, the 44 m tall PSLV has a lift-off mass of 295 tonne. It is a four-stage launch vehicle with the first and the third stages as well as the six strap-ons surrounding the first stage using HTPB based solid propellant. PSLV's first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world.

Its second and fourth stages use liquid propellants. PSLV's bulbous payload fairing has a diameter of 3.2 metre. The vehicle has S-band telemetry and C-band transponder systems for monitoring its health and flight status respectively. It also has sophisticated auxiliary systems like stage and payload fairing separation systems.

Welcome To ISRO :: PSLV-C9


The technology is related to targeting multiple targets with single ICBM. The point here is at exactly what point the war heads should be released so that they can reach the targets with some maneuvers. These maneuvers can be done by the nozzles embedded in each war head, just like rocket motors in satellites used to place them in exact locations.

There is similarity and any nation which has mastered the launch of multiple satellites in a single mission is capable of producing an MIRV ICBM.

Again, that's a very vague statement, so vague as to make it categorically non-unique. What do you mean by 'guidance'? What system or technology are you referring to? Depending on the answers, your statement becomes true or false.

This is denial , nothing more.

First understand what I have wrote then reply

I said guidance related to war heads is similar to guidance used in satellited to place them in orbit (maneuvering using rocket motors or nozzles on to the target or placing them in a precise orbit) .

 

[t_co]

Returning to the original topic, by opening up Japanese bases to nuclear warheads, Shinzo Abe has just given the Chinese nuclear forces an excuse to put most of Japan on their target list - something they were probably itching to do anyhow, but which they can now do with full legitimacy.

This is a bad idea. Japan does not have much leeway when it comes to an atomic slugging match, since Japan is a much, much smaller country than China, and the flight time of a DF-21 to Tokyo would be about four and a half minutes (or even less if China mated warheads to its Klub missiles and fired them from Kilo subs lying 15 nautical miles outside of Tokyo Harbor - two Chinese submarines could saturate the entire Kanto plain with over 4 megatons of hellfire in less than 90 seconds).

And while you might think that China would be deterred by the likely US response, it wouldn't, because both Chinese and US planners know A2/AD vs AirSea Battle has a high likelihood of going nuclear anyhow. What this lets China do is put Japan on the target list with minimal 'guilt', and ensure that in a China/US blowup, Japan would come out radioactive as well.

Finally, as a domestic consideration, this weakens Abe's position with both ultranationalists and liberals; the left, because they don't want to get nuked, and the hawks, because they view US nukes on Japanese soil as an infringement of Japanese sovereignty and would rather Japan have its own nukes to use.

 

[t_co]

May be you should have checked the info. before denying that PSLV launched 10 satellites in a single mission.

PSLV-C9 is the thirteenth flight of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the third flight of its 'Core Alone' version as well. In this flight, PSLV launched ten payloads - India's 690 kg CARTOSAT-2A and 83 kg Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1) as well as eight nanosatellites from abroad together weighing about 50 kg into a 635 km high polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) inclined at an angle of 97.94 deg to the equator.

With much lighter payloads compared to the ones placed into orbit by its standard version, PSLV-C9 is configured without the six solid propellant strap-on motors of the first stage. The previous two launches of PSLV were also such 'Core Alone' versions. The Core Alone PSLV-C9 had a lift-off mass of 230 tonne.

1. Those nanosatellites don't count. They were released with the main satellite; they were simply bundled separately and had no separate guidance or thrusting. They weighed 50kg in aggregate, which means they weighed about 6kg each. For comparison, a nuclear warhead weighs 300-500kg (the most modern models; it is unlikely India even has them).

It's like saying if you dump a bunch of oranges at once out of a fruit cart, it means you can precisely toss bags of concrete, one at a time, onto a target hundreds of meters away.

2. The total payload of that mission you cited is 690+83+50, which is barely enough for 2 warheads. There is no spare weight for the guidance systems, decoys, and 'bus' (which you need to shuttle the warheads through 2 different ballistic paths).

Ergo, my points still hold

I said guidance related to war heads is similar to guidance used in satellited to place them in orbit (maneuvering using rocket motors or nozzles on to the target or placing them in a precise orbit) .

It's not similar, since the guidance also includes things like making sure the 'bus' is in the right position without radio communications or external controllers, and the tolerances are much smaller. Plus, the bus itself needs to have its own calculation capabilities or else the release mechanism can't fire automatically, which means you need radiation-hardened microchips that can withstand the solar wind. Putting something into an orbital track is much simpler than aiming it to hit a precise spot on the ground.

 

[Srinivas_K]

1. Those nanosatellites don't count. They were released with the main satellite; they were simply bundled separately and had no separate guidance or thrusting. They weighed 50kg in aggregate, which means they weighed about 6kg each. For comparison, a nuclear warhead weighs 300-500kg (the most modern models; it is unlikely India even has them).

It's like saying if you dump a bunch of oranges at once out of a fruit cart, it means you can precisely toss bags of concrete, one at a time, onto a target hundreds of meters away.

PSLV is a light vehicle and the thrust generated by it is also small, But an IRBM like AGNI V can carry 1500 Kgs of payload. The reason why I pointed about the multiple satellite launch with single rocket is that India posses the technology of precisely where to drop the pay load based on target designations.

2. The total payload of that mission you cited is 690+83+50, which is barely enough for 2 warheads. There is no spare weight for the guidance systems, decoys, and 'bus' (which you need to shuttle the warheads through 2 different ballistic paths).

Ergo, my points still hold

AGNI 5 can carry 1500 kgs and MIRVs can be easily fitted on to it, the missile has to release the war heads at a precise moment so that each war head will trace its own path based on designated target.

It's not similar, since the guidance also includes things like making sure the 'bus' is in the right position without radio communications or external controllers, and the tolerances are much smaller. Plus, the bus itself needs to have its own calculation capabilities or else the release mechanism can't fire automatically, which means you need radiation-hardened microchips that can withstand the solar wind. Putting something into an orbital track is much simpler than aiming it to hit a precise spot on the ground.

India launched Moon mission and also Mars mission these two missions require much much more precision , radiation hardened micro chips, cosmic shields, heat shields and immunity to solar shield. Plus India routinely guides its satellites into orbits using motors fitted to the satellites the same technology can be used to MIRV war head.