Want China Times
A US B-52 bomber. (Photo/USAF)
The United States may deploy its B-52 strategic bomber to defend Japan’s administration of the disputed Diaoyutai islands (Senkaku to Japan, Diaoyu to China) in the East China Sea if the People’s Liberation Army were ever to invade the islands, according to China’s Global Times, citing Japanese media reports.
The B-52, the same aircraft the US sent to challenge China’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the days after its announcement by Beijing late last year, could potentially be deployed to the area once again to conduct strategic bombings against Chinese forces from the US air base at Guam.
Citing the Tokyo-based Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Global Times said the US Navy is also likely to replace the USS Denver, the Austin-class amphibious transport dock currently stationed in Japan, with the more advanced San Antonio-class landing platform dock USS Green Bay in 2015. With a displacement of 16,914 tonnes, the Green Bay is not only larger than the Denver but also has the ability to carry up to five MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and 14 amphibious assault vehicles.
From its naval base at Sasebo in southwestern Japan, the USS Green Bay can launch an amphibious assault if China were to attempt to occupy the islands, the paper said. In addition to the new combat vessel, the US has deployed the new Boeing P-8 Poseidon jet-powered maritime patrol aircraft to replace the older P-3C to confront PLA submarines.
After China announced its East China Sea ADIZ last November, it replaced Russia and North Korea as Japan’s number one air defense concern. The Japanese defense ministry said fighters from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force have scrambled 453 times to intercept aircraft intruding into its own ADIZ, scrambling against Chinese aircraft 295 times compared to 158 times for Russian aircraft.
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