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Collaboration between JAXA and UNOOSA to Offer Small Satellite Deployment Opportunity

Collaboration between JAXA and UNOOSA to Offer Small Satellite Deployment Opportunity from Kibo to Contribute to Developing Countries to Improve Space Technology

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) agreed to cooperate in providing opportunities to deploy cube satellites (CubeSats) from the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” of the International Space Station (ISS).

The Kibo is equipped with a special airlock system and robotic arm; hence a small satellite can be released to space from it by utilizing the Kibo’s distinct functions. Satellite deployment capability is the Kibo’s unique feature on the ISS.

Small satellites can be manufactured at low cost and by utilizing relatively simple technology; therefore that can be useful for education, communication, disaster mitigation, and human resource development. With the agreement for collaboration this time, we can provide an opportunity for using space and verifying technology there to countries that do not possess the capacity to launch satellites.

While taking maximum advantage of the Kibo’s strong points and employing the network and know-how with UN member countries, JAXA will offer opportunities of small satellite utilization from the Kibo to developing countries so that we continue to contribute to the improvement of their space technology.

Information about how to apply for an opportunity will be published on the UNOOSA’s website soon. We will also announce the information in English on JAXA’s website “International Space Station, Japanese Experiment Module Kibo”.

JAXA|宇宙航空研究開発機構
 
Japan's Military Gets New Rules of Engagement


apan’s Ministry of Defense is in the process of updating operational rules of engagement for the members of the Japanese Self-Forces (JSDF) deployed abroad, The Japan Times reports.
The revision of the JSDF’s operational code of conduct is a direct result of new security legislation recently passed by the Upper House of the Japanese Diet that includes the right to collective self-defense.

According to The Japan Times, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani held a committee meeting this Monday to discuss details and, among other things, initiate a new training plan to ensure JSDF personnel will be familiar with the new rules of engagement.

What is clear already is that the scope of JSDF operations abroad will widen significantly. For example, during UN peacekeeping operations, Japanese blue helmets will now be allowed to come to the rescue and support troops of other peacekeeping contingents and can engage in “normal” military security operations such as patrolling and vehicle inspections at checkpoints.

The legislation will come into effect in March. Its first practical application will in all likelihood occur in South Sudan, where Japan has dispatched around 350 soldiers who are engaged in engineering projects but also offer medical support to the local population.

New tasks could now include security protection of NGO workers, Red Cross staff, or other UN peacekeepers, The Japan Times notes. However, it seems unlikely that these new tasks will befall an engineering unit and Japan will have to likely dispatch a special infantry unit for those kinds of operations.

Based off the revised U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines, the new legislation now allows JSDF personnel to protect U.S. forces, including American naval ships and also permits logistical support of other nations engaged in fighting.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, special attention will be given to a new joint U.S.-Japanese action plan for the defense of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea claimed by China.

This plan could be based on an anti-access operational concept with Japanese characteristics. As I noted before (See: “This Is Japan’s Best Strategy to Defeat China at Sea”), an anti-access/anti-denial operational concept with Japanese characteristics would take into account Japan’s role as a gatekeeper to the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.

It would focus on exploiting of Japan’s maritime geographical advantage over China by skillfully deploying the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces (JMSDF) along the Ryukyu Islands chain, bottling up the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the East China Sea until the U.S. Navy and other allied navies could come to the rescue.


Reference: The Diplomat
 
New Japanese armored vehicles
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Новые японские бронированные машины - bmpd
 
本能力構築支援は3ヵ年計画で実施しており、本年は2年目になります。昨年度は、測量及び道路設計等の基本的事項を教育しており、本年度は、道路施工管理の教育及び砂利道構築の実習を行います。来年度は、3年目になりますが、アスファルト舗装道を実際に建設させる計画であり、こういった活動を通じてモンゴル軍工兵部隊がPKO活動において、必要とする技術水準に到達させる予定です。

陸上自衛隊は、これまでの国際平和協力活動を通じて得た知見や技術を積極的に伝え、様々な国々に支援していく所存です。

Roughly translated; it means that there will be a logistical and operational support by Japan in Mongolia in the next three years as both countries field exercise together. Japan is invested in Monglia's development and both their militaries shall invest in an inter-service exchange program that will enhance current and future PKO (peace keeping operations) within North Asia and abroad. Japan, ever always, is firmly and totally invested in the maturation, development of North Asia.

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Japanese engineer and Mongolian counterparts.

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Japanese-Mongolian Engineering Corp Interservices Exchange


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Joint Japanese-Mongolian Forces
 
How enlightening to know that some 8 centuries ago our peoples (Mongolia and Japan) were at odds with one another and were enemies. But within a span of a millennia, both have come out of that historical context, and have seen the benefits of cooperation in regards to globalist developmental views. I look forward to the ever-strengthening of Japanese-Mongolian Relations, and , hopefully an extension of this North Asian Cooperative Paradigm --- to include contiguous neighbor countries --- into this beneficent matrix.
 
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