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<channel>
	<title>In Defense of Japan</title>
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	<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog</link>
	<description>From the Market to the Military in Space Policy by Saadia M. Pekkanen and Paul Kallender-Umezu</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 08:36:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>ja</language>
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		<title>SHSP Decision on New Space Agency Delayed a Month</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/10/shsp-decision-on-new-space-agency-delayed-a-month/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/10/shsp-decision-on-new-space-agency-delayed-a-month/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 08:28:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Japan space development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan space militarization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan space program]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michibiki]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QZSS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SHSP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=974</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The decision on the shape of the new space agency (origially called the 宇宙庁) in the original Matsui Plan has been stalled again by last-minute haggling as MEXT mounts a last-ditch battle to stop ceeding budget and programmatic authority to the Prime Minister&#8217;s Cabinet Office, according to Takafumi Matsui, architect of the plan, in an [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">The decision on the shape of the new space agency (origially called the 宇宙庁) in the original Matsui Plan has been stalled again by last-minute haggling as MEXT mounts a last-ditch battle to stop ceeding budget and programmatic authority to the Prime Minister&#8217;s Cabinet Office, according to Takafumi Matsui, architect of the plan, in an interview yesterday (Tuesday August 9). It was quite spooky to interview Matsui Sensei in the offices of the <a href="http://www.iips.org/">IIPS</a> in Toranomon knowing that a major bureaucratic battle between MEXT, METI and the CO was taking place a scant 500 meters or so away in Kasumigaseki proper- a battle completely ignored by the mainstream press but covered in Japan&#8217;s gutsy <em>shukanzasshi</em> (weeklies).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As I pointed out last week in <a href="How will the SHSTP’s Next-Gen Space Plan Unfold?">How will the SHSP’s Next-Gen Space Plan Unfold?</a> August 8 was supposed to be Change You Can Believe In day when the SHSP was to finalize the transfer of power of authority of the QZSS system development to the CO along with the budgetary powers to complete it, largely at the expense of MEXT. According to Matsui Sensei, MEXT is going down fighting and it is unclear whether the deal will go through.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As I pointed out last time,   June 30&#8242;s  政府の宇宙開発利用体制の在り方について(案) represents a compromise- originally the 宇宙庁 was to have complete control of space policy and budget, but according to Matsui Sensei, it represents a stealth-step in the right direction. If the plan works, then the CO will have seized control of Japan&#8217;s largest ever space infrastructure project, involving the building of a 7 or 8 satellite constellation of Michibiki satellites that will provide sub-1 meter positioning and emergency communications and as yet undisclosed (to be worked out- nothing sinister) functions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For those of you familiar with the QZSS project, the CO taking charge is both a practical solution and a master stroke all at once, removing the in-fighting that has plagued the project for the best part of a decade and firmly putting the CO in charge of space national security and public infrastructure.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile the General Space Activities budget is due for a savage beating, with the DPJ trying to enforce a 30% cut in some science and technology fighting. <a href="http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/utyuu/keikaku/pamph_en.pdf">The Basic Plan for Space Policy </a>of June 2009- take a look at page 8,  looks to have been reduced to administrative 瓦礫　(gareki= rubble).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">To see how things pan out, watch this space!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
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		<title>Japan&#8217;s New-Old Defense White Paper</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/08/japans-new-old-defense-white-paper/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/08/japans-new-old-defense-white-paper/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:08:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alliance Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China Threat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White Paper]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=939</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In China&#8217;s Search for a Grand Strategy (Foreign Affairs・March/April 2011), Wang Jisi, who is Dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, is obviously the chosen point man to present the kinder, gentler &#8220;it&#8217;s gonna be OK, don&#8217;t worry, be happy&#8221; face of China to the rest of us. One of Wang&#8217;s primary [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">In <em>China&#8217;s Search for a Grand Strategy</em> (<strong><em>Foreign Affairs</em></strong>・March/April 2011), Wang Jisi, who is Dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, is obviously the chosen point man to present the kinder, gentler &#8220;it&#8217;s gonna be OK, don&#8217;t worry, be happy&#8221; face of China to the rest of us.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">One of Wang&#8217;s primary arguments for explaining away China&#8217;s belligerence on the high sees, see for example the harassment of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Impeccable_%28T-AGOS-23%29"><em>USNS Impeccable</em></a> in international waters being one of the more minor incidents, is the need of the Chinese leadership to pander to the rabid nationalism it has created. In a country where free political debate is censored, nationalism is one of the few outlets. Now this monster has been released it must be pacified, leading to public hyperventilation and hyperbole and adolescent bullying on the seas.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Tuesday&#8217;s release of Japan&#8217;s 37th White Paper however gets to grips with the real issue at hand- China&#8217;s claims  to sovereign rights and ju­risdiction over its Exclusive Economic Zone.  This key issue is a recipe for disaster. Coping with it will be a major task in hand for the U.S.-Japan Alliance until China implodes.</p>
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<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter" style="text-align: justify;">
<dl id="attachment_944" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 649px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a rel="attachment wp-att-944" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/08/japans-new-old-defense-white-paper/japans-defense-white-paper/"><img class="size-full wp-image-944" title="Japan's Defense White Paper" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Japans-Defense-White-Paper.jpg" alt="" width="639" height="659" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">The story remains the same&#8230;</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">In any case, here is the full article:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">By  PAUL KALLENDER-UMEZU TOKYO — Japan’s new defense white paper hints at  an expecta­tion of long-term declines in U.S. military and economic  strength and reflects an unprecedented level of concern about China.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“China’s future actions are wor­risome, given what can be inter­preted  as its overbearing ways to address its clashing interests with  neighboring countries, in­cluding Japan,” says the Aug. 2 paper by the  Ministry of Defense (MoD), titled “Defense of Japan 2011.” Chinese  government officials were quick to respond in Japan­ese media reports.  Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  criticized “irre­sponsible comments,” while Chi­nese Defense Ministry  spokesman Geng Yansheng accused Japan of deliberately exaggerating a  “Chi­na threat.” At issue is the Japanese word “koatsuteki,” which can  also be translated as “assertive,” and is used in an unofficial  translation of the white paper to describe Japan’s concerns about  China’s military modernization and ex­panding maritime reach, said Jun  Okumura, adviser at the Eurasia Group here.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“The MoD merely said what everyone had on their minds,” Okumura said.  “The Chinese side responded in kind.” Okumura said Tokyo would be remiss  not to comment on recent provocations by the Chinese Navy, including  multiple incur­sions into Japanese territorial waters by destroyers and  nu­clear-powered submarines, and the “buzzing” of vessels and airspace.  All this comes after China’s 20-year military buildup and a quadrupling  of military spending in the last decade.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Analysts said much of the paper’s language and approach echo  longstanding themes: It calls the U.S. Japan alliance “indispensable,”  warns of cyber attacks, and so on.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“It is very much in line with what you would expect in a year with a  revised NDPG,” the National Defense Program Guidelines released in  December, said Christopher Hughes, a professor of interna­tional  politics and Japanese studies at Britain’s University of Warwick.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But the paper also mentions a “global shift in the balance of power” —  code for potential long-term U.S. military and eco­nomic decline.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A reference to territorial disputes, though brief, is ominous, according  to Pe­ter Woolley, a professor of comparative politics at Fairleigh  Dickinson University in New Jersey.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“Japan is geographically surrounded by water and has a long coastline  and numer­ous islands,” Woolley said. “Invasion of these islands can be  anticipated as one form of armed attack. Any Japanese reader knows very  well that the retreat of U.S. in­fluence, to be replaced by that of new  ac­tors, is problematic and complex for Japan.” South Korea is  complaining about Tokyo’s claims on the Sea of Japan islands that Seoul  calls Dokdo.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The paper also notes that China plans to expand its maritime activities.  That reflects growing Japanese and U.S. concern about Beijing’s claims  to sovereign rights and ju­risdiction over its Exclusive Economic Zone,  said James Manicom, a naval expert at Cana­da’s Balsillie School of  International Affairs. “I don’t think the tone is that surprising,”  Manicom said. “The most important differ­ence as it relates to maritime  issues is the addition of China’s interpretation of inter­national law  as a subject of concern.” The paper reflects concern about North Korea’s  new Musudan ballistic missile, which can hit Guam, and other threats,  said Alessio Patalano, an expert on Japanese mil­itary issues at Kings  College, London.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“The sinking of the Cheonan, the artillery shelling of Yeonpyeong  Island, China’s air­craft and carrier programs, are other exam­ples.  Japan’s response was clear and sought to underline the potential risk  presented by the missile programs of North Korea, and by China’s  evolving behavior at sea,” Patalano said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The paper also contains a 13-page section on the March 11 Great East  Japan Earth­quake, lauding the U.S. response that in­cluded about 16,000  troops, 15 vessels and 140 aircraft.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The aid operation “looms large because it is important to a beleaguered  Japanese pub­lic, because Japan is genuinely grateful and prepared to  say so,” Woolley said.</p>
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		<title>How will the SHSP&#8217;s Next-Gen Space Plan Unfold?</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/06/how-will-the-shstps-next-gen-space-plan-unfold/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/06/how-will-the-shstps-next-gen-space-plan-unfold/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:09:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Japan space development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan space militarization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan space program]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SHSP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seiji Maehara]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=892</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Monday is the day when the the Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy (SHSP) is due to release its report on which part of the government is going to lead Japan&#8217;s space policy and budgeting. The decisions announced Monday, more than a year later than intended and the result of a 30-month bureaubattle between MEXT and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">Monday is the day when the the Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy (SHSP) is due to release its report on which part of the government is going to lead Japan&#8217;s space policy and budgeting. The decisions announced Monday, more than a year later than intended and the result of a 30-month bureaubattle between MEXT and the Cabinet Office and METI, will give important clues as to how successful MEXT&#8217;s rearguard action to save its programmatic and budget control against encroachment by the CO and METI has been.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Despite bitter complaints about stacked committees and placements (oh it pains me not to write about them) showing that Japanese bureaucratic battles can be just as downright dirty and corrupt as a Brooklyn Ward (or British Borough) election, MEXT would seem to have done pretty well out of it so far. Remember, back in 2008 the Basic Law&#8217;s key point was to, within 2 years, have the SHSP design a Cabinet-led 宇宙庁 (Space Agency) focused on promoting the use of space for national security, applications and industrialization- all anathema to MEXT, which has maintained control of around 60% of the entire space budget through its control of the R&amp;D oriented JAXA.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">With an attitude similar to that of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ju4Gla2odw">Charlton Heston at the NRA,</a> or perhaps, more like that of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIYP1ibYdZI&amp;playnext=1&amp;list=PL8167E4F72C53F7B0">Jim Hacker defending the great British Sausage</a>, in an astonishing achievement revelead in June 30&#8242;s <a href="www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/utyuu/senmon/dai17/siryou_nakanishi.pdf">政府の宇宙開発利用体制の在り方について(案) 平成23年6月30日 </a>MEXT has managed to whittle down the SHSP&#8217;s proposal to taking about 30% of its budget.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Why astonishing? Well the whole point of the Basic Space Law <a href="http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/utyuu/about2.html">(宇宙基本法（骨子)</a> was to rip the power away from MEXT in the first place (see several dozen of my articles in Space News down the years), in particular, fight the <a href="http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/utyuu/seisaku_kaigi/dai7/gijisidai.html">今後の宇宙政策の在り方に関する 有識者会議 提言書</a> put together by Matsui Sensei, which de facto proposed a revolution in space organization, and did so in only 5 pages. Can you imagine something so beautifully clear and direct as to delineate a major Japanese governmental powerbroking revolution in ONLY FIVE PAGES?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">No wonder it wasn&#8217;t popular! Here is the original article I wrote about the Matsui initiative, arranged by Seiji Maehara to put the cat among the pigeons. We&#8217;ll see how things pan out on Monday.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
<div id="attachment_925" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 640px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-925" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/06/how-will-the-shstps-next-gen-space-plan-unfold/japan-urged-to-break-up-jaxa/"><img class="size-full wp-image-925  " title="Japan Urged To Break up JAXA and Establish New Space Agency, Space News, May 3, 2010" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Japan-Urged-To-Break-up-JAXA.png" alt="" width="630" height="445" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Matsui Report was not popular with MEXT but popular with METI...</p></div>
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		<title>Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Fights Back</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/06/boeing%e2%80%99s-fa-18ef-super-hornet-fights-back/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/06/boeing%e2%80%99s-fa-18ef-super-hornet-fights-back/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Aug 2011 23:35:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[F-35]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[F-X]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=897</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s cheap journalism to say that the battle between the F-35 and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is heating up, because it&#8217;s only heating up in the press- the battle has been heating up between Lockheed Martin and Boeing for some time. After talking to people very familiar with what is going on, it does seem as budget pressures are [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">It&#8217;s cheap journalism to say that the battle between the F-35 and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is heating up, because it&#8217;s only heating up in the press- the battle has been heating up between Lockheed Martin and Boeing for some time. After talking to people very familiar with what is going on, it does seem as budget pressures are putting a new sheen on the previously unfancied Super Hornet.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-918" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/06/boeing%e2%80%99s-fa-18ef-super-hornet-fights-back/books/"><img class="size-full wp-image-918 alignleft" title="Arming Japan by Michael J. Green" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/books.jpg" alt="" width="128" height="190" /></a>Let&#8217;s backtrack a few years. Ever since the <em>tsunami </em>of kokusanka in aerospace collided, broke, and ebbed on the impenetrable need to maintain good offices with the U.S.  in the FSX crisis (as told so well by Michael Green in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arming-Japan-Michael-J-Green/dp/sitb-next/0231102852"><em>Arming Japan</em></a>, p.86-107 ) Japan&#8217;s aerospace ambitions long ago turned back to Meiji priorities- get the best technology in the world available and indigenize it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The current war of words between the F-35 and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and, indeed, the Eurofighter- which has many champions here among impartial observers- speaks volumes to the shifting and juggling of priorities facing Japanese planners.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Japan&#8217;s instinct was to have bought the F-22  and its stealth technology and pressed for squeezing as much technology and production transfer out of the U.S. as possible. A vain hope and crushed painfully.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The F-35 has been seen as the &#8220;next best thing&#8221; as it is a &#8220;5th generation&#8221; airframe that is stealthy and has all its weapons, fuel tanks and etc. subsumed into the airframe. But the F-35 has been fighting terrible battles of its own (see <strong>The Economist&#8217;s</strong> <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18958487"><em>The last manned fighter </em></a>for more details) with well publicized software and more serious difficulties and potentially soaring per-unit costs. Which is what made my private interview with former Top Gun pilot and now F-35 Program Manager Stephen O&#8217;Bryan (below) even more important.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The critical issues are always balancing cost (especially expensive local production) vs. technology transfer (and assuaging/ pushback against U.S. technonationalism), vs. jobs for MHI and KHI, vs. maintaining the Alliance all balanced by the fact that unless Japan purchases top-of-the-line fighters, it probably sends terrible signals to the Chinese.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Bearing all this in mind, the really astonishing thing is the distance the Super Hornet has traveled over the past year or so in perception. Three years ago it was assumed this plane, based on a 40-year-old design, wouldn&#8217;t stand a chance against the F-35. Again there are faint echos of the FSX saga again. Back in the day Japan felt forced to drop its preference for the original F-18, in which TDRI could fit all sorts of cool J-gear such as CCV, composite wings and phased array radar, for the F-16 because of the increasing arrogance of McDonnell Douglas, which insisted on blocking any Japanese improvements on the plane without paying MD first&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">How times have changed. With U.S. industry in fear of reduced procurement until the U.S. finds more clients to arm or wars to fight, Lockheed Martin and Boeing seem to be falling over themselves to offer better and better deals.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;There is a clear sense that improvements have been made and that from an industrial point of view F-35 will be a much better deal than one would have thought in the past. And that to me sounds like they’re trying to outbid the Europeans, because they are those offering access to technology know-how,&#8221; says my good friend Alessio Patalano over at Kings College, London.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Despite clouds remaining over the actual cost and operability of the F-35 Patalano thinks it would be a major mistake to opt for the F/A-18E because it&#8217;s cheap. Purchases like this RFP are actually tools of statecraft and in the fast evolving East Asian landscape, Japan needs to maintain a modern, advanced air force, one capable of measuring itself up against modernising regional forces, both operationally and technically, he says.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, here is the original article. Enjoy!</p>
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<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter" style="text-align: justify;">
<dl id="attachment_907" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 540px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a rel="attachment wp-att-907" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/08/06/boeing%e2%80%99s-fa-18ef-super-hornet-fights-back/f-18-gains-favor-in-japans-f-x-contest-4/"><img class="size-full wp-image-907 " title="F-18 Gains Favor in Japan's F-X Contest" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/F-18-Gains-Favor-in-Japans-F-X-Contest3.png" alt="" width="530" height="536" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">F-18 Gains Favor in Japan&#8217;s F-X Contest By Paul Kallender-Umezu, Defense News, July 25, 2011, page 6</dd>
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		<title>ASNARO Project Upate: Part II- A New Pathway for NEC</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/07/13/asnaro-project-upate-part-ii-a-new-pathway-for-nec/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/07/13/asnaro-project-upate-part-ii-a-new-pathway-for-nec/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:51:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=830</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Following on from an afternoon at NEC a while back, I was also fortunate enough to spend more or less a day at USEF catching up on METI&#8217;s space programs. What an eye-opening event that was, which will also mean that an entire chapter in an upcoming book and old friend and I are planning [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-851" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/07/13/asnaro-project-upate-part-ii-a-new-pathway-for-nec/nec-space-strategy-2011-2020/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-851" title="NEC Space Strategy 2011-2020" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/NEC-Space-Strategy-2011-2020.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="356" /></a>Following on from an afternoon at <a href="http://www.nec.com/global/solutions/space/">NEC</a> a while back, I was also fortunate enough to spend more or less a day at <a href="http://www.usef.or.jp/">USEF</a> catching up on METI&#8217;s space programs. What an eye-opening event that was, which will also mean that an entire chapter in an upcoming book and old friend and I are planning is now almost entirely focused on USEF. Space Environment Reliability Verification Integrated System <a href="http://www.usef.or.jp/english/f3_project/servis/f3_servis.html">SERVIS-2</a> for example yielded at least one internationally competitive technology that has become a major global success story, as well as building significant leaps forward in satellite design with the improved CFRP core and 3D heat pipes&#8230;on Melco&#8217;s COTs-testbed the <a href="http://www.usef.or.jp/project/servis/index.html">SERVIS-1.</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, back to the matter in hand: in promoting the <a href="http://www.nec.co.jp/space/technology/bus/nextar.html">ASNARO/Nextar </a>project, USEF took a break from Melco, which has been the main beneficiary of spin on/off with USEF over the last 15 years, to switch to NEC, which had traditionally been- and still is- Japan&#8217;s master of smaller bus systems, communications and sensors. I have to qualify this statement by saying that when I mean small, I don&#8217;t mean the micro- nano- and picosatellites now being churned out by <a href="http://www.unisec.jp/">UNISEC</a> members and others.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">What I mean is NEC&#8217;s excellence in satellites such as Oicets/Kirari and work done for ISAS over the decasdes. Allied with the engineering tradition of Toshiba (in particular ETS-7 here is an <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/spacenet/text/ets7-b.html">old story </a>and another <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/spacenet/text/ets7-i.html">here</a> I did for Spacer and <a href="http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ets-6.htm">ETS-6</a>), NEC should have by all accounts bounced back earlier from last decade&#8217;s scandal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But they are back, big time with the small-medium ASNARO bus (see below graphic):</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-854" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/07/13/asnaro-project-upate-part-ii-a-new-pathway-for-nec/asnaro/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-854" title="ASNARO-1: NEC's Pan-Asian Eye in the Sky " src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ASNARO.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="417" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Back in the late 90s, as I mentioned in <a href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/30/asnaro-project-upate-part-i-delayed-but-not-doomed/">Part-I</a>, NEC&#8217;s main challenge for the then-commercial constellation communications market was the Oicets bus for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledesic">Teledesic</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Remember <em>Skybridge, Celestri, Spaceway, Astrolink</em>, and the rest of them?&#8230;how could we ever forget the time when it appeared the earth was about to be circled by hundreds of satellites dedicated to making our brick cellphones work so expensively&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">That all went <em>kaput</em>, along with NEC&#8217;s credibility when <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CGN/is_1998_Dec_22/ai_53452715/">the procurement scandal </a>broke in 1998, all to conveniently sabotaging NEC&#8217;s bid for the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Tdaa_iM9_vQC&amp;pg=PA146&amp;lpg=PA146&amp;dq=melco+igs&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=8sYhr25vvp&amp;sig=Xgd_bpXjd6ly6K6KN00-mQp0NkI&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=_h0dTvCUIKX0mAWO-f3lBw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=2&amp;ved=0CBsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=melco%20igs&amp;f=false">IGS constellation</a>. And it seemed for years that NEC had been cast adrift like <a href="http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/comets.htm">Comets/ Kakehashi </a>or Kiku-6 slowly frazzling in the radiation of bad publicity while sinking into a black hole of <a href="http://www.nec.com/global/solutions/space/satellite_systems/index.html">no major Engineering Test Satellite contracts for JAXA</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In many ways, with the seizure of the IGS contracts by Melco in 1998, the company surged ahead of NEC, which was left without heavy bus technology. With Melco also closely aligned to USEF, things were looking pretty grim for NEC which seemed to have been left behind from securing major contracts for NASDA/JAXA for the best part of a decade.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">NEC&#8217;s position has turned the corner and improved by several developments, however.  </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">First miniturization and continual technical improvement mean that relatively small buses such as ASNARO&#8217;s can do a lot more than they could 20 years ago. These days, a middleweight can pack the punch of a heavyweight of yesteryear in some respects.  Related to this, there is swing back to the need for smaller, more flexible satellites as payloads and technology has advanced and ASNARO&#8217;s modular, plug and play capabilities could work just fine.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Second, more and differnet satellites are needed from multiple sources to build more solutions for Japan&#8217;s emerging national security space infrastructure.  Even with Melco recently announcing it planned to redouble its output at its Kamakura Works, Japan needs NEC.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Last but most importantly in some respects is the need for different solutions to promote Japanese space diplomacy in Asia, and South East Asia through <a href="http://aprsaf.org/">APRSAF</a> and ODA and against the rival <a href="http://www.apsco.int/">Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization </a>and <a href="http://www.cgwic.com/">CGWIC </a>. Exploring this and related issues will be a key theme for my Ph.D. research at 慶應義塾大学 政策・<strong>メディア</strong>研究科 (Keio University&#8217;s Graduate School of Media and Governance).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the coming decade, Southeast Asia needs to take decisions about developing its space infrastructure for human security and disaster and environmental warning/monitoring/relief and it&#8217;s vital that these are done with Japanese technologies, moving on from the <a href="http://www.aprsaf.org/initiatives/sentinel_asia/">Sentinel</a>, <a href="http://www.aprsaf.org/initiatives/safe/">SAFE</a>, <a href="http://www.aprsaf.org/initiatives/star_program/">STAR</a> and Micro-Star and PLATFORM  programs. And ASNARO/Nextar is just the sort of &#8220;platform&#8221; required. For more on this, see Part III (to come).  </p>
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		<title>New Review of In Defense of Japan</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/07/11/new-review-of-in-defense-of-japan/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/07/11/new-review-of-in-defense-of-japan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:13:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Academic / Scholastic Journal Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[In Defense of Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=865</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Veteran satellite journalist Peter J. Brown has just written a nice review of In Defense of Japan on his new blog Japanese in Space. One of the issues with In Defense of Japan is that it is not media friendly and not designed to be media friendly as we wanted to reach decision makers and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">Veteran satellite journalist Peter J. Brown has just written a nice <a href="http://japaneseinspace.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-reading-in-defense-of-japan.html"><strong>review</strong></a> of In Defense of Japan on his new blog <em><a href="http://japaneseinspace.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-reading-in-defense-of-japan.html">Japanese in Space</a>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">One of the issues with In Defense of Japan is that it is not media friendly and not designed to be media friendly as we wanted to reach decision makers and analysts. Undoing misconceptions of Japan&#8217;s space program by decades of superficial coverage can&#8217;t be done by engaging the mass media as the message just does not jive, or jars with media  shibboleths. However, we are finding that people who are seriously interested in this area find the time to read In Defense of Japan through and &#8220;get&#8221; our arguments.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Peter&#8217;s take amounts to: &#8220;<em>&#8230;this  writer is hard pressed indeed to identify any recent book in English  that comes close to covering as much ground as this one does.&#8221;</em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Here is an excerpt:</p>
<div id="attachment_866" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 686px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-866" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/07/11/new-review-of-in-defense-of-japan/japanese-in-space-review/"><img class="size-full wp-image-866" title="Japanese in Space Review" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Japanese-in-Space-Review.jpg" alt="" width="676" height="603" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Review of In Defense of Japan by Peter J Brown</p></div>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><br />
</em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Many thanks Peter and keep up the good work on Japanese in Space!</p>
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		<title>ASNARO Project Upate: Part I</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/30/asnaro-project-upate-part-i-delayed-but-not-doomed/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/30/asnaro-project-upate-part-i-delayed-but-not-doomed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:59:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[ASNARO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NEC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Space on Demand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USEF]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=757</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was lucky enough recently to spend a day interviewing great people at METI, USEF, Pasco and NEC a little while back and managed to nail down many more details about what is happening with the ASNARO (Advanced Satellite with New system Architecture for Observation) project. For some Space News background on ASNARO, please see [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_759" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 233px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-759" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/30/asnaro-project-upate-part-i-delayed-but-not-doomed/users001/"><img class="size-full wp-image-759  " title="users001" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/users001.jpg" alt="" width="223" height="135" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">USERS SEM Deorbiting Pod</p></div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I was lucky enough recently to spend a day interviewing great people at METI, USEF, <a href="http://www.pasco.co.jp/eng/solutions/geospatial/sip/">Pasco</a> and NEC a little while back and managed to nail down many more details about what is happening with the <a href="http://www.usef.or.jp/project/asnaro/asnaro.html">ASNARO (Advanced Satellite with New system Architecture for Observation)</a> project. For some Space News background on ASNARO, please see my <a href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/04/20/epsilon-is-go-well-sort-of/j-moving-ahead-with-smallsats-2/"><strong>original story</strong></a>. This time, specifically METI asked me to write about it for them, and gave tremendous help getting NEC and Pasco on board. It was just wonderful meeting people with ideas and strategies that are obviously well thought out.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Let&#8217;s get the disclaimer out of the way first.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">From where we are standing, from the point of view of national security space, at the end of the day, <em>it doesn&#8217;t matter</em> if NEC succeeds in its strategy to turn the ASNARO/Nextar branded modular satellite platform into a commercial success in/for ASEAN countries. Of course it matters to NEC, because they are a private company and want to make more profit.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And of course it matters to me, because for the health of NEC and Japan&#8217;s military industrial base, it&#8217;s better that they sell or get more SE Asian nations to &#8220;buy&#8221; them through ODA and I wish them every luck.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But, at the end of the day, IF ASNARO/Sasuke/ Nextar never makes a successful commercial go of it, the Japanese government is still going to make sure the platform is built. And we predict that ASNARO will play its role in Japan&#8217;s emerging national space security infrastructure.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">ASNARO is crucial to a number of players in a number of ways. After years of false starts and what may have been blind alleys &#8212; <a href="http://www.jaxa.jp/press/nasda/2002/tsubasa_sac_020828_j.html">MDS-1</a> <em>Tsubasa </em>or <a href="http://www.jaxa.jp/article/interview/no18/index_e.html">OICETS <em>Kirari</em></a> spring to mind <img src='http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' />  -</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-842" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/30/asnaro-project-upate-part-i-delayed-but-not-doomed/photo-1_oicets/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-842" title="Oicets Kirari " src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/photo-1_oicets.jpg" alt="" width="370" height="277" /></a>-Nextar represents what NEC has been trying to build since the late 90s (1998 if my memory serves me right, see <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/spacenet/text/nec-98a.html"><em>NEC unveils prototype bus, aims for Teledesic</em></a><em>,</em> this being the<em> non-Space News version)</em> and the era of Hiroaki Shimayama and Takenori Yanase. Nextar, which looks suspiciously like a reworked OICETS/ MDS bus to me, and it&#8217;s the keystone of their pan-Asian commercial turnkey systems strategy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We&#8217;ll go into this in Part II.  In Part III, we&#8217;ll look at the military angle, but only when the official article is published in Defense News.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">So what is ASNARO?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">ASNARO is a USEF powerplay to develop a bus system that on one hand will give NEC a chance to compeat in the ASEAN market for EO sats, and whether or not that succeeds, gives Japan the option to build a constellation of spysatellites, all kicked of with a tiny down-payment of 6 billion yen.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Therefore ASNARO is important to METI to show that its decades-long investment in creating standardized satelite bus systems and plug and play and COTs parts at USEF is finally paying off. Those of you  who have read <em>In Defense of Japan</em> know that we more or less regard USEF as METI&#8217;s DARPA, or military space arm, although USEF wouldn&#8217;t be comfortable with this description. Afterall, the technologies they develop are for peaceful purposes only. Right?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(I still vividly remember the change in body language when discussing with USEF how accurate <a href="http://www.usef.or.jp/english/f3_project/users/f3_users.html">USERS&#8217;s SEM </a>-see image above- could be made).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Leaving aside the dual-use nature of many USEF projects, ANSARO is a vital component in what METI had been calling its <strong><a href="https://ssl.tksc.jaxa.jp/mews/JP/20th/data/1_04.pdf">Space on Demand (SOD)</a></strong> program, which, while it doesn&#8217;t actually use military language, leves very little to the imagination. Submarine launch, air launch (and with Epsilon) mobile launch! Reprogrammable satellites&#8230;&#8221;flexible&#8221; ground systems (we&#8217;ll get to that one in Part III).</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a rel="attachment wp-att-834" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/30/asnaro-project-upate-part-i-delayed-but-not-doomed/space-on-demand/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-834" title="Space on Demand" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Space-on-Demand.jpg" alt="" width="581" height="417" /></a><br />
</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Incidentally, the other main submarine space launch vehicle I know of  is the <strong>R-29R Vysota &#8220;Stingray&#8221; SLBM </strong>rebranded <strong><a href="http://www.makeyev.ru/rocspace/rkkvolna/">Volna</a></strong> and its peaceful <a href="http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/shtil_volna.htm">brotherhood</a> for lobbing payloads into LEO instead of  3x 300 kiloton-yield warheads at&#8230;wherever.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Behind this, ASNARO is a platform technology that also enables NEC to supply ISAS with SPRINT-series satellites, and could become a key part of Japan&#8217;s ODA strategy to counter China&#8217;s building influence in ASEAN. Hitherto, <a href="http://www.aprsaf.org/">APRSAF</a> has been a bit of a highly amicable talking shop. More about that in Part II.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, here is the Space News article with some of the bear-bones details. More to follow in Parts II and III.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<div id="attachment_837" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 554px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-837" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/30/asnaro-project-upate-part-i-delayed-but-not-doomed/asnaro-delayed-one-year/"><img class="size-full wp-image-837 " title="ASNARO Delayed One Year" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/ASNARO-Delayed-One-Year.jpg" alt="Space News article by Paul Kallender-Umezu" width="544" height="391" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">ASNARO Delayed but far from Doomed!</p></div>
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<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong> </strong></p>
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		<title>Briefing Eurasia Group on In Defense of Japan on Friday</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/29/briefing-eurasia-group-on-in-defense-of-japan-on-friday/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/29/briefing-eurasia-group-on-in-defense-of-japan-on-friday/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:21:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=796</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Saadia and I are looking forward to briefing the Eurasia Group on In Defense of Japan, following their invitation for us to follow up on our talk to the Institute for Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS) at Temple on June 3rd. Many thanks to Robert for that! The talk at Temple was an outstanding success, with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">Saadia and I are looking forward to briefing the <a href="http://www.eurasiagroup.net/client-services/japan"><strong>Eurasia Group </strong></a>on <a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=9858"><em>In Defense of Japan</em></a>, following their invitation for us to follow up on our talk to the <a href="http://www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/index.html">Institute for Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS)</a><a href="http://www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/index.html"> </a>at Temple on June 3rd. Many thanks to Robert for that!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The talk at Temple was an outstanding success, with many many questions, and we are still following up. Of particular interest was that Japanese think tanks have started to take notice. As little as two years ago, I feel our talk would have been seen as controversial, but now discussion is deemed acceptable. And so it should be. That was also the point&#8230;</p>
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<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-797" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/29/briefing-eurasia-group-on-in-defense-of-japan-on-friday/2011-5-30-templatespacetalk-ppt/"><img class="alignleft size-large wp-image-797" title="2011-5-30-TEMPLATEspaceTalk.ppt" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-5-30-TEMPLATEspaceTalk.ppt-1024x723.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="406" /></a></p>
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		<title>U.S. Space Command Review of In Defense of Japan</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/29/u-s-space-command-review-of-in-defense-of-japan/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/29/u-s-space-command-review-of-in-defense-of-japan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:21:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=769</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Saadia and I were complimented indeed to have In Defense of Japan reviewed by no less than U.S. Space Command&#8217;s High Frontier Journal. This follows on from a favorable review by no less than Foreign Affairs in the January/February 2011 edition. The review by Dr. Rick W. Sturdevant, deputy historian of Air Force Space Command, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;">Saadia and I were complimented indeed to have <a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=9858"><em>In Defense of Japan</em></a> reviewed by no less than <a href="http://www.afspc.af.mil/library/highfrontierjournal.asp">U.S. Space Command&#8217;s <strong>High Frontier Journal.</strong></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-771" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/29/u-s-space-command-review-of-in-defense-of-japan/afd-110330-051/"><img class="size-full wp-image-771  alignnone" title="AFD-110330-051" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/AFD-110330-051.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="104" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This follows on from a favorable review by no less than <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67195/saadia-pekkanenpaul-kallender-umezu/in-defense-of-japan-from-the-market-to-the-military-in-space-pol"><em>Foreign Affairs </em></a>in the January/February 2011 edition.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The review by Dr. Rick W. Sturdevant, deputy historian of Air Force Space Command, concludes with the assessment that our book might serve as <em>&#8220;a model for historically grounded analyses of other national space policies and programs.&#8221;</em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We hope so, and that was the point.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We felt (and feel) that Japan&#8217;s highly successful strategic policy of technonationalism  is very poorly understood, and Japan&#8217;s space program is poorly served by mass media and its tropes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">You know the score: when you <em>really</em> know about something, what you read in the mass media about it just often doesn&#8217;t  make sense, or contains editorial bias. As a <em>mea culpa, </em>I&#8217;m one of the people fundamentally responsible for this when I wrote several dozen articles for <em>Space News</em> back in the late 90&#8242;s plotting each twist and turn of some very real technology problems that had surfaced, followed by budget cuts.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">Saying that, <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1997768,00.html"><em>Time </em></a>has been a notable exception.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the age of Twittering and instant recycling of PR,  the need for good, old-fashioned research and sourcing of information becomes <a rel="attachment wp-att-772" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/29/u-s-space-command-review-of-in-defense-of-japan/in-defense-of-japan-review/"><img class="alignleft size-large wp-image-772" title="In Defense of Japan Review" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/In-Defense-of-Japan-Review-786x1024.jpg" alt="" width="512" height="666" /></a>ever more important.</p>
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		<title>Michibiki: Finally Licence to Guide</title>
		<link>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/15/michibiki-finally-licence-to-guide/</link>
		<comments>http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/15/michibiki-finally-licence-to-guide/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:13:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Positioning and Targeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QZSS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[未分類]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/?p=633</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After 15 years and twists and turns that made IHI/Nissan&#8217;s bid for the J-1A-&#62;J-2-&#62;GX look like a skip around the block, Michibiki will finally become an openly accepted part of Japan&#8217;s emergent space-based national security structure. There has always been a strong element of &#8220;aw-shucks, you don&#8217;t say&#8221; about the real purpose of the QZSS [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">After 15 years and twists and turns that made IHI/Nissan&#8217;s bid for the <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-I%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B1%E3%83%83%E3%83%88">J-1A</a>-&gt;J-2-&gt;GX look like a skip around the block, Michibiki will finally become an openly accepted part of Japan&#8217;s emergent space-based national security structure.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There has always been a strong element of &#8220;aw-shucks, you don&#8217;t say&#8221; about the real purpose of the QZSS system, which is to provide a highly advanced (15cm to 1m positioning accuracy) sovereign (encrypted = military signal) positioning (read targeting) local (read regional) GPS system, that&#8217;s useful for&#8230;the same uses as the original GPS and GLONASS systems.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-720" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/15/michibiki-finally-licence-to-guide/michibiki/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-720" title="michibiki" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/michibiki.jpg" alt="" width="370" height="290" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Although the what become the present system originated out of Melco and the old CRL (Communications Research Laboratory, now NICT) in 1996/7. I can still remember the pitch, and then the huge wrangle between the STA and MOFA with the U.S. over it. I covered this for <strong><em><a href="http://www.spacenews.com/">Space New</a></em></strong>s what, 14 and 13 years ago now.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In a recent conversation I had with a former GSDF general who is now a consultant for a major Japanese IT firm consulting the MOD to fight Japan&#8217;s cyberwars against 30,000 state-funded Chinese hackers, making sure QZSS has targeting capability has been formally on the table in inter-ministerial meetings (well at that time the MOD was the JDA) since at least 2005. In fact, retired general &#8220;X,&#8221; as we&#8217;ll call him, brought QZSS up unilaterally. The topic we were discussing was  the utility of UAVs and network-centric warfare and the limits of interoperability. The main issue for X was concern that Japan be capable of building a &#8220;rec&#8217;n'rocket&#8221; Global Hawk capability as well as a tactical capability so that battlefield, operations and strategic roles can be fulfilled. And then, as he put it, &#8220;there is the space element&#8221; of which QZSS or its successor will no doublt play a role&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">2005. 2005. Well, well, well. Wasn&#8217;t that  time when the now-defunct ASBC (Advanced Satellite Business Corporation), who were responsible for window-dressing QZSS as an orbital Wall-Mart communications and broadcasting and &#8220;man nabi&#8221; system, gave me a very 玉虫色 (tamamushiiro) response about if they were talking to the JDA about the QZSS&#8217;s dual-uses.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The business model for QZSS as pounded out by ASBC didn&#8217;t make sense. Why would we need man-nabi from a keitai with an expensive chip plugged into a space-based system when nabi functions were already commonplace. Why would we need broadcasting when we already had BS* by NHK, and SKY PerfecTV washing our brains out with hundreds of channels of digital junk. SkyPerfect being the consolidated rump of what had been  DirecTV, PerfecTV and JSky B competing in Japan&#8217;s limited market, and JSAT competing with Mitsubishi&#8217;s SCC as a platform service providers. (SCC lost and was merged into JSAT). So there goes your business model.</p>
<p>As we make clear in In Defense of Japan, &#8220;..<em>although the QZSS/Michibiki itself is a product of the 2000s, the system as a whole represents the culmination of eff orts to develop a regional GPS system dating back to the late 1980s.  Like a lot of the other space- based technologies discussed in this book, this one has had a long trajectory&#8230;&#8221;</em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">More precisely, like everyone else, Japan realized that the space-based force muliplier technology and infrastruture, with gave birth to RMA, completely outdated militaries not similarly equipped in practically anything other than low-intensity conflicts. Thus the gearing up by Europe (Galileo), China (Beidou) (<a href="http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1307/1">not exactly friends those two </a>with the snooty French keeping the receipe for roast canard separate while the Chinese attempt <a href="http://www.spacenews.com/policy/100312-officials-poised-remove-chinese-payloads-galileo.html">to spice the whole affair up with illiberal doses of General Tao&#8217;s Sauce</a>)  and and Japan (Michibiki) to develop its own PNT capability in case it was denied access or remained dependent on U.S. technology.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the 1990s, the STA, METI, and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), looked to develop a positioning system that would cover a large swathe of Asia, from the Kurile Islands to the north, China to the east, and Guam in the south. In March 1997 the then STA asked what was then NASDA (now JAXA) to move ahead with research into the highly accurate, satellite-mounted atomic clocks needed for a high-precision GPS. This was billed at the time as a matter of &#8220;economic security.&#8221; As anyone who understands Japan&#8217;s nomenclature, &#8220;economic security&#8221; is a fine bedfellow of &#8220;security&#8221; and his old chum &#8220;national security.&#8221;  The facinating story of how Michibiki got developed is summarized in In <strong><em><a href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/15/michibiki-finally-licence-to-guide/">D</a></em></strong><strong><em><a href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/15/michibiki-finally-licence-to-guide/">efense of Japan</a></em></strong>. Meanwhile, as my recent story in Space News below tries to make clear, the curtains have been drawn open, and people in Japan are starting to talk about Michibiki&#8217;s national security role more openly.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a rel="attachment wp-att-737" href="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/2011/06/15/michibiki-finally-licence-to-guide/report-recommends-upgrading-qzss/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-737" title="Report Recommends Upgrading QZSS" src="http://indefenseofjapan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Report-Recommends-Upgrading-QZSS.jpg" alt="" width="596" height="490" /></a> </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em> </em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>*BS means Broadcasting Satellite in</em> Japan, not &#8220;the other&#8221; meaning.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
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