With Japan’s constitution currently forbidding offensive type weapons such as an aircraft carrier, the naval emphasis has been on anti-submarine warfare, anti-mine, amphibious, and humanitarian aid activities.  Accordingly, the Japanese Marine Self Defense Forces (JMSDF) has continually sought to expand its capabilities in those areas. Given the JMSDF focus on ASW and maritime protection, sea-based air assets occupy an important role in those type operations. 

However, the constitutional ban against “offense type” weapons has redirected focus away from fixed wing aircraft and aircraft carriers to a variety of smaller type platforms carrying helicopters. So, for several decades, JMSDF large destroyers have carried helicopters in order to better enable the ASW aspect of their mission.

Still, the Japanese have always wanted a larger, more dedicated ASW platform that could handle more equipment as well as the service and logistics requirements needed to support them. Eventually, two Hyuga class (Hyuga, Ise) helicopter carriers were constructed and placed in service during 2009-2011. Given the sensitivity of their Southeast Asian neighbors to historical Japanese militarism, these ships have been termed helicopter destroyers (DDH) when, in fact, they are clearly helicopter carriers.

Their design has been a great success, prompting the construction of another, larger pair of such ships, the Izumo class DDH. These new ships are also replacing the two, aging, Shirane class DDH destroyers after their approximately 35 years of service. 

The design built upon the Hyuga previous class with several tweaks.  Larger command and control facilities were built in. The flight deck area was increased to 1.5 times that of the Hyuga class. The elevators are capable of heavier loads than their predecessors. Such loads would include both aircraft and JGSDF heavy vehicles and missile carriers as part of a potential amphibious response force, disaster relief, or even a portable missile defense. The airwing is currently rated as nine helicopters, with deck spots for five, and a potential full load of fourteen large helicopters stored on a spacious hangar deck. Some sources state that up to 28 aircraft of smaller sizes could be carried. The ships can also carry up to 400 marines and 50 light vehicles, but without a well deck for amphibious craft, all personnel and equipment have to be moved by air. 

While there are no fixed arrestor cables, it has been speculated from the outset that some sort of additional V/STOL capability could be accommodated aboard them. The flight deck layout of the Izumos did remove obstacles from the flight deck and rearrange equipment that could interfere with the launch and recovery of fixed-wing aircraft. The CIWS system mounted on the foredeck of the Hyuga class was moved far over to the side, opening up the flight deck area necessary for fixed-wing operations. The aft vertical launch silo of the previous class has also been removed, allowing for greater ease of aircraft recovery. However, it is said that the flight deck would still need some ablative reinforcement to help protect against the blast effect of the engines used in V/STOL aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey and F-35B Lightning ll.

The ship’s power comes from four highly fuel efficient COGAG GE/IHI LM2500IEC gas turbines producing 112,000 shp to drive two propeller shafts. Top speed is listed as 30 knots.  This powerplant is considerably more powerful than the USS America LHA class ships, allowing for a top speed almost one third greater. It’s not clear to me why the need for such a high top end, but my own observation here is that the extra speed could come in handy in helping to get an STOL type aircraft aloft, should one ever be embarked.

Dimensionally, this class has an overall length of 814ft/248m, an overall beam of 125ft/38m, and draws a draft of 25ft/7.5m. Full load displacement is listed as 27,000tons. Displacement aside, the Izumos are slightly larger than Kaga’s namesake from WWII. (Opinion: I can’t help but wonder if the displacement is somewhat understated, given the similarity in size and specs to the Wasp and America classes. I readily admit this is strictly speculation on my part, as I have no background in naval architecture or engineering.  Still, those classes are but 30 feet longer overall then the Izumos, basically the same width and draft, and yet are listed as being one third greater in displacement.) 

The kit is certainly representative of Hasegawa’s current standards. Everything is sharp and detailed, spread out over fourteen sprues. This kit shares most all its sprues with the Izumo kit, but not all the pieces are meant for Kaga (and vice versa). The instructions block out those pieces not intended for this kit.  The plastic is a hard, medium grey, with a smooth, matte finish. There is only a hint of flash on some rotors and no sinkholes. (Note that on the photos of the flight deck and some superstructures, one can see some swirling lines; these are surface blemishes and not imperfections in the plastic.)

The fit appears to be as built, though there is the unexpected inclusion of a sprue (x2) that holds two Lockheed Martin F-35B STOVL (short takeoff and vertical landing) multirole fighter aircraft. These are the same aircraft to be utilized by the USS America class amphibious assault ships and the HMS Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers as part of their airwings.

While this aircraft has been conjectured as a potential, future member of the Izumo class airwing, these ships have not as yet been configured to carry them. This sprue does not appear with the Hasegawa Izumo kit, which took its own leap of wishful thinking with the inclusion of some MV-22 Osprey VTOL/STOL tiltrotor aircraft, which also happen to be included with this kit. However, in today’s current political environment, particularly with regard to the East China Sea, such possibilities appear to be gaining traction. Rapidly. So, perhaps it is not too fanciful to include these extras for modelers and armchair admirals such as ourselves.

Also included on the sprue are several catwalks and small sponsons.  The catwalks have some equipment detail of their own. 

The hull also scales out very well. JS Kaga’s particulars versus the scale and kit:
 

Overall Length:		248m/813’5”		1/700 OA length:		354.3mm		Kit OA length:		355mm*
Waterline Length		n/a		1/700 WL length:		n/a		Kit WL length:		332mm**
WL Beam:		31m/101’7”		1/700 WL Beam:		74.28mm		Kit Beam:		44mm

*overall length includes a stern mounted sponson
** waterline length specifications were not readily available to me 

The bridge sections are, again, sharply molded. The forward command module has a fair amount of detailing with numerous panels, projections and a wraparound set of sharply recessed bridge windows. The aft command deck section for air ops has deeply recessed apertures for the larger bay windows, which look very nice. There are several large air intake grills set into the structures, which are pretty good for injection plastic. There are separately molded access ladders which are ok; PE versions would be better. The SeaRAMs look pretty good for 1/700; even the indented depressions covering the end of the launchers are present.
 

Interestingly, the instructions formally identify all aircraft in the kit except for the F-35Bs. While I understand the inclusion of the F-35Bs is merely conjecture, it still seems odd not to properly identify them. Perhaps it was just an oversight during proofreading.

The lack of any sort of hangar deck is a bit of a disappointment, particularly as the Pit-Road versions do provided detailed elevator wells, though helping to making those kits a bit more expensive than the Hasegawa versions. Excepting that one qualifier, the kit seems like an excellent cornerstone for one’s JMSDF fleet. 

Thanks to Hobbico Model Distributors for the review sample. They are your US distributors for Hasegawa. The suggested US MSRP is $69.99.