REIWA JIGOKUHEN - Chaotic Disturbance of Reiwa Era

Chapter 43 - Wartime Immediate Weapons Program

Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo: Prime Minister's Office

"Aide Muto, we must first abandon the stereotype that we must build weapons to modern standards."

The "Occupation of America" plan was decided by a single stroke. At a meeting to finalize the realization of the plan, Ohashi, the director of the National Security Bureau, made the above assertion. Muto, who had to compile a report to PM Kato as his deputy, sensed something illuminating in his words. Ohashi must surely have a plan to break through the current situation.

"For example, anti-air missiles on destroyers. These missiles are capable of reliably destroying supersonic aircraft of anti-ship missiles flying just above the sea surface at supersonic speeds, but they are extremely overkill for use against propeller-driven planes of 1945."

"But Ohashi-san, wouldn't it be less expensive to continue making the current weapons, considering all the redesigning and other work that would have to be done?"

Muto first made a common-sense counterargument. Ohashi was aware of this, of course.

However—Muto has his beliefs. A breakthrough is based on the accumulation of conventional common sense, ideas, and facts. Only when a certain amount of these is accumulated can a phase shift in thinking occurs. The economist Schumpeter defined innovation as a new combination, meaning that if there is nothing, there can be no combination.

"In fact, challenges are many, whether it is the coupling of systems or their compatibility with the launcher. It is true that some of the mechanisms are currently malfunctioning because the supply of foreign components has been cut off. But even so, wouldn't it be more beneficial to somehow duplicate those parts and aim to improve the operating rate of current weapons?"

"Aide Muto, that is an argument about the 'high' in the 'high-low mix' concept. In that sense, you are completely correct."

Ohashi's eyes shone with sagacity. It was also a signal to move on to the main topic.

"The current Self-Defense Forces all fall under the 'high' category. On the other hand, the 'low' units that are scheduled to be formed in the future, which will consist mainly of temporary, expedited SDF personnel, will be more efficient if they are separated from the weapon systems they will be operating."

"To think they would actually do the Krumper thing," Muto blurted out in a tone of dismay.

The military with an extremely high ratio of officers and enlisted personnel is operated in peacetime, and in case of emergency, the size of the military is expanded by conscripts. This is the Krümpersystem, of which Germany after World War I is a good example. In a sense, it may be infamous, since it has long been trumpeted by the lax leftists for the purpose of making the obnoxious racket that is the draft.

But as a matter of fact, that was a concept until the mid-20th century, when mobilization was assumed. Since the Cold War, wars have shifted again to extreme short-term battles, and basically all countries have a structure in which large standing armies are maintained and operated from the beginning. The high ratio of officers and enlisted personnel is also due to the fact that the weapons they handle require a high level of proficiency and present significant employment problems.

However, the rest of the world, except for Japan, has somehow reverted to 1945. This means that the national defense environment is also back to the way it was in 1945. Especially now that the complete defeat of the US has become a reality, there is an urgent to increase troop strength, and it has been decided to mobilize up to 1,5 million prompt SDF officers and 3 million auxiliary personnel to take care of everything from transportation to cooking and recreation. In order to establish a command structure for these units, personnel were scheduled to be transferred from the SDF, which did not even have the required numbers to begin with, and all the divisions were screaming now.