Dragon, Eagle, and Rising Sun

摘要

When an unidentified submarine was detected in the waters off Japan last November, P-3C maritime patrol aircraft from the Japanese self-defense forces immediately began shadowing the intruder. The escort was hardly benign. Japan's force of 80 P-3C aircraft boasts powerful radars and antiship and antisubmarine weapons, including lethal Harpoon missiles. With a range of more than 1.000 miles and flying from air bases stretching from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, the P-3s would allow Japan to set up a defensive perimeter out into the South China Sea, over the Spratly Islands, and even south of the Philippines.