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Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has warned of growing challenges to the country’s air defences, making remarks during a visit to Chitose Air Base on the northern island of Hokkaido on May 23 where he watched fighter pilots rehearse one of the most demanding routine missions in the armed forces. Fighters were launched on emergency intercept against Russian military aircraft approaching the country’s airspace, which they have conducted approximately four times a year during Fiscal Year 2025.

…dead or in a medically induced coma?

We need to talk about an unpleasant subject.
I briefly mentioned it last week, and talked about it a little on the latest Midrats Podcast, but that is enough fiddling around the topic. Time to man up and address the topic head-on.
I think the DDG(X) program is a dead program walking.
There could be an error, as there was with BBG-1 vs. BBGN-1 in the chart, but let’s look again at the latest Shipbuilding Plan.

There is no DDG(X) in the plan…just Arleigh Burke DDGs being built, as the Salamander says, until the crack of doom.

The United States has indefinitely suspended the delivery of Japan’s first 400 RGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, due to serious shortages of the missiles in the U.S. Navy that have resulted from the 39 day U.S. assault on Iran. The Financial Times, citing “several people familiar with the discussions”, reported that U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth informed his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, about the delay earlier in May.

The Russian Armed Forces have conducted the third ever combat launch of the Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile, with footage appearing to show the impact of multiple re-targetable warheads in the capital Kiev. This follows a prior strike on January 8 against a target in Ukraine’s Lviv region, near its NATO borders, and the first ever combat use of the missile in November 2024. The latest strike was launched simultaneously with multiple attacks using Iskander-M ballistic missile systems, with footage from the capital showing multiple large resulting explosions.

Summary and Key Points: China’s Type 003 Fujian aircraft carrier could achieve full operational readiness this year, according to Chinese state media.

-The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier and the first built with electromagnetic catapults rather than ski-jump ramps — a structural change that lets it launch heavier aircraft with more fuel and weapons. The Fujian is being built specifically to operate the J-35, China’s newest stealth fighter family.

-The J-35 evolved from the FC-31 Gyrfalcon, a Shenyang Aircraft Corporation export concept that first flew in 2012.

Summary and Key Points: The United States built 5,195 F-4 Phantom II fighters between 1958 and 1981 — the most-produced American supersonic military aircraft in history.

-Designed as a Navy fleet-defense interceptor, the Phantom expanded into air superiority, fighter-bomber, close air support, reconnaissance, and the legendary Wild Weasel electronic warfare role. The aircraft served with the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and 15 American allies.

F-4 Phantom II Fighter National Security Journal Photo. Taken on July 19, 2025 by Harry J. Kazianis.

F-4 Phantom II.

Naval aviators are more stressed by night landings on an aircraft carrier than by combat. Physiological studies show higher heart rates and blood pressure during night carrier landings than during combat missions. Naval aircraft hit the deck at roughly 155 knots and stop in 1.2 seconds. The target zone is 49 feet long. The flight deck itself measures only about 150 meters — postage-stamp-sized compared with the 6,000-to-10,000 foot runways commercial pilots use. Pilots use the Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (the meatball) to maintain glide slope.

Key Points and Summary: Taiwan is harder to invade today than at any point in its modern history. Over the past two years it has procured 57 HIMARS rocket systems, fielded its fourth Patriot air defense battalion, ordered Army Tactical Missile Systems with 300-kilometer reach, and committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on hard defense — the NATO standard most NATO members do not meet.

–The Problem: Taiwan’s strategic LNG reserves nonetheless last only 11 to 14 days under blockade.

HIMARS. Image Credit: U.S. Government.

The Army successfully hit its recruiting goal for the 2026 fiscal year, more than four months ahead of its deadline. 
The Army announced on Saturday that it reached its goal of signing 61,500 people for active-duty contracts. It’s the third year in a row that the Army met its recruitment goal, after falling short in 2022 and 2023. It also is the second year in a row that it beat the deadline by roughly four months; in 2025 the Army hit the milestone in the first week of June. The fiscal year closes at the end of September.

The Navy’s longest serving aircraft carrier is now operating in the Caribbean. The USS Nimitz, the 51-year-old carrier that recently got its service extended, arrived in the sea on Wednesday, joining an American military presence that has been in place for several months. It also brings more naval power to the region as the United States ramps up pressure on Cuba.
The Nimitz and its strike group, including the USS Gridley and USS Patuxent as well as Carrier Air Wing 17, entered the Caribbean earlier this week after conducting operations with Brazil, U.S.