On November 1, the Asahi Shimbun reported that the Japanese government is pushing to include the phrase “formal consideration of introducing nuclear-powered submarines” in the national security documents to be revised at the end of this year. This policy appears to be largely a compromise between the Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai), a member of the ruling coalition that has pressed for early introduction, and the Liberal Democratic Party, in which caution had prevailed.
Introducing nuclear-powered submarines capable of unlimited submergence, in place of diesel submarines that must surface periodically, is analyzed as intended to check, from a distance, the Chinese navy as it expands its reach into the Pacific.
Within the Japanese government, there is also a growing view that nuclear-powered submarines should be given a role that goes beyond simple maritime surveillance and patrol, serving as a core element of the “counterstrike capability” of directly hitting enemy bases in a contingency by carrying long-range missiles.
The United States views this positively. Last September, a US Navy official cited Japan’s outstanding nuclear power technology and lent support to the need to consider acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.
