Japan Self-Defense Forces
Unified military forces of Japan
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| 2025 | Japan plans to procure 8 F-35A and 3 F-35B aircraft in the fiscal year. |
| January 15 2025 | Japan became the first among NATO's Indo-Pacific partners to inaugurate a full-time ambassador to NATO. |
| 2024 | Japan plans to order 4 C-2 SOJ electronic warfare aircraft to replace the existing EC-1 fleet. |
| 2024 | Japan plans to order 1 RC-2 reconnaissance aircraft with the budget. |
| 2024 | Japan plans to order 8 F-35A and 7 F-35B aircraft in the fiscal year. |
| 2023 |
JGSDF personnel strength reached 150,700 soldiers, with General Yasunori Morishita serving as the Chief of Staff, headquartered in Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Ground Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Yasunori Morishita attends a press conference at the Self-defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 22, 2023. An 18-year-old Ground Self-Defense Force cadet allegedly shot fellow GSDF personnel at a firing range in Gifu City on June 14, killing two and injuring one.( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images Stock Photo - Alamy
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DVIDS - Images - RD 23 FTX | JGSDF Chief of Staff visits MLG at Camp Kinser
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| 2023 | Japan purchased 8 F-35A and 8 F-35B aircraft during the fiscal year. |
| December 19 2023 | United States, Japan, and South Korea announced the activation of a real-time North Korea missile warning system and established a multi-year trilateral exercise plan in response to ongoing North Korean ballistic missile launches. |
| October 22 2023 | JASDF conducted its first-ever trilateral exercise with the South Korean and United States air forces near the Korean Peninsula. |
| February 22 2023 | Five warships from the United States, Japan, and South Korea held a multilateral ballistic missile defense exercise in the Sea of Japan in response to North Korean ballistic missile launches. |
| 2022 | Japan acquired 8 F-35A and 4 F-35B aircraft in the fiscal year. |
| December 23 2022 | The Japanese Ministry of Defense released 2023 budget and program guidance, detailing operational plans for Aegis-equipped naval forces, including dedicated ballistic missile defense missions in the Sea of Japan. |
| December 16 2022 | Japan announced a major policy shift by acquiring counterstrike capabilities and increasing defense budget to 2% of GDP. |
| November 18 2022 | Another guided-missile destroyer fired an SM-3 Block IB missile with a successful hit outside the atmosphere, conducted at the U.S. Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai Island, Hawaii. |
| November 16 2022 | Guided-missile destroyer successfully fired an SM-3 Block IIA missile, intercepting a target outside the atmosphere in a test conducted at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. |
| October 6 2022 | Five warships from the United States, Japan, and South Korea conducted a multilateral ballistic missile defense exercise in the Sea of Japan in response to North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile tests. |
| May 5 2022 | Japan and the United Kingdom signed a defensive partnership to counter 'autocratic, coercive powers' in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. |
| 2021 | NHK reported Chinese military cyberattacks on nearly 200 Japanese research institutions and firms using a hacker group called Tick. |
| 2021 | NAMC YS-11 aircraft retired from service. |
| 2021 | Japan procured 4 F-35A and 2 F-35B aircraft during the fiscal year. |
| 2021 | Completion of memorial tracking for 1,964 National Police Reserve, National Security Forces, and Self-Defense Force personnel who died in the line of duty since 1950 |
| September 2021 | The GSDF conducted nationwide drills involving 100,000 personnel, 20,000 vehicles, 120 aircraft, JMSDF, JASDF, and a U.S. Army landing ship. These were the largest GSDF exercises since 1993, aimed at strengthening defense capabilities in response to various situations. |
| April 1 2021 | Fumiaki Kubo becomes president of the National Defense Academy of Japan |
| March 17 2021 | Mitsubishi F-4EJ Phantom II was retired after 50 years of service with the JASDF, being replaced by the F-35A. |
| 2020 | Japan continued F-35 procurement, acquiring 3 F-35A and 6 F-35B aircraft in the fiscal year. |
| November 17 2020 | Japan and Australia agreed in-principle to sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) to enhance strategic and defense cooperation. |
| October 14 2020 | Unveiled the 3,000-ton submarine, first vessel of the Taigei class, which entered service in 2022. |
| September 10 2020 | Japan and India signed the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), a military pact allowing exchange of logistical support and supplies to counter Chinese aggression in Asia. |
| May 19 2020 | JASDF officially inaugurated its Space Operation Squadron, marking a significant expansion of its operational capabilities into space-related military activities. |
| October 21 2019 | A senior U.S. military officer in Tokyo called for Japan to reconsider its constitutional restrictions on offensive weaponry and to inform the public about threats from China and North Korea. |
| June 20 2019 | Two Russian bombers (Tupolev Tu-95) violated Japanese airspace twice on the same day. |
| May 2019 | JMSDF participated in two quadrilateral naval exercises for the first time, including a sail-through in the South China Sea with naval ships of the United States, India, and the Philippines, and the La Pérouse exercise in the Bay of Bengal with France, United States, and Australia. |
| May 28 2019 | U.S. President Donald Trump inspected the Izumo-class warship during his visit to Japan, becoming the first U.S. president to inspect a Japanese warship and supporting Japan's active role in Pacific defense. |
| April 19 2019 | Japan and the United States confirmed that cyberattacks are covered by their bilateral security treaty, agreeing to increase defense cooperation in cyber, space, and electronic warfare. |
| April 19 2019 | The Japanese government approved the first ever JSDF dispatch to a non-UN peacekeeping operation, with JGSDF officers monitoring the cease-fire between Israel and Egypt at the Multinational Force and Observers command in the Sinai peninsula (until November 30, 2019). |
| March 2019 | The Ministry of Defense established its first regional cyber protection unit in the Western Army of the JGSDF to safeguard defense communications from cyber attacks. |
| 2018 | Training-Evaluation, Education, Research & Development Command was created by integrating the former Ground Research & Development Command and JGSDF Staff College. |
| 2018 | JASDF began promoting its fried chicken (karaage) recipe to increase its popularity, initiating culinary competitions with other military branches. |
| 2018 | First female pilot of an F-15 joined the JASDF, breaking the previous ban on women becoming fighter jet and reconnaissance aircraft pilots. |
| December 18 2018 | Announced plans to refit Izumo-class destroyers to carry US-designed F-35B fighter jets, effectively creating de facto aircraft carriers for the first time since World War II. |
| October 29 2018 | Japan and the United States conducted their largest military exercise, Keen Sword, involving 57,000 sailors, marines, and airmen from both countries and Canada. |
| October 27 2018 | The JGSDF and Indian Army conducted their first joint military exercise in Mizoram, focusing on anti-terror drills and bilateral cooperation, involving 60 Japanese and Indian officers. |
| October 4 2018 | Christened the JS Ōryū submarine, Japan's first submarine powered by lithium-ion batteries, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. |
| October 2 2018 | British troops of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) conducted joint exercises with Japanese GSDF soldiers in Oyama, Shizuoka prefecture to improve strategic partnership and security cooperation. |
| April 7 2018 | Japan activated the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, its first marine unit since World War II. |
| March 2018 | Ryoko Azuma became the first female squadron commander in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, taking command of a division including the flagship Izumo, the largest warship in the JMSDF. Her unit comprises four warships with a total of 1,000 crew members. |
| March 27 2018 | Major Command was reorganized from the Central Readiness Force, establishing its headquarters in Nerima, Tokyo. |
| 2017 | The Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy became the official policy of Japan and the United States. |
| May 2017 | Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set a 2020 deadline for revising Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to allow for a more normal military with potential offensive capabilities. |
| May 1 2017 | First time JMSDF was used to defend allied vessels since the 2016 constitutional amendment, dispatching a ship to protect a U.S. Navy supply vessel in the Pacific. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles National Defense Academy of Japan, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Military history of Japan, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force & Japan Self-Defense Forces, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.