On November 13, Japanese shipbuilder Japan Marine United (JMU) launched the first two of a planned fleet of 12 offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) for the JMSDF in a ceremony at its shipyard in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.
The first vessel was named Sakura（さくら）originating from the cherry blossom（桜）, Japan’s national flower. The name Sakura has a long lineage in Japanese naval history. It follows the first Sakura, the lead ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Sakura-class destroyers; the second, a Matsu-class destroyer; and the third, a Kusu-class escort ship leased from the U.S. Navy in 1953—making this the fourth vessel to bear the name this time around.
The second ship was named Tachibana（たちばな）, originating from 橘, a tree species that has existed in Japan since ancient times and is even mentioned in the Manyoshu, Japan’s oldest anthology of poetry that was compiled in the 8th century.
It has been standard practice for JMSDF destroyers to be named after celestial and meteorological phenomena, mountains, rivers, or regions. However, the newly introduced class of patrol vessels has adopted tree names. The names were selected through internal deliberations within the JMSDF and officially approved by the Minister of Defense.
The is a new class of ship for the JMSDF, with the ship type designation marking the its first-ever OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel).
The Sakura (with pennant number OPV 901) and Tachibana (OPV 902) were only recently laid down on February 14, 2025. In June, the Sakura began the “block assembly” process, in which hull sections are joined together in the dock, followed by the start of block assembly for the Tachibana as well. According to the JMSDF Maritime Staff Office, after outfitting and various performance tests, the Sakura is scheduled to be commissioned in January 2027, followed by the Tachibana in February of the same year.
The office said each of the Sakura and Tachibana cost about 8.9 billion yen ($57.7 million) to build. However, construction costs have risen, and most recently in August, the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo requested 28.7 billion yen to build additional two vessels in the defense budget for fiscal 2026.
The third and fourth ships of the class are scheduled to be launched in March 2026.
Based on the nation’s Defense Buildup Program formulated in December 2022, the MoD plans to acquire 12 patrol vessels over about 10 years. It first allocated 35.7 billion yen for fiscal year 2023 to build the first four vessels.
The new patrol vessels measure 95 meters in length, with a standard displacement of 1,900 tons, a depth of 7.7 meters, a draft of 4.2 meters, and a top speed of 25 knots (28.8 mph). Like the Mogami-class frigates (FFM), their hulls are designed with a strong emphasis on stealth. In addition, automation technologies have been implemented to reduce crew requirements, limiting the necessary personnel to just 30. This is only one-third of the crew of the Mogami-class, which also prioritizes reduced manpower, with about 90 personnel.
While the standard displacement is roughly the same as that of the Abukuma-class destroyer escort (DE), the armament has been minimized to a 30mm cannon. No anti-air or anti-ship missiles are installed.
Each OPV features a combined diesel-electric and diesel (CODLAD) propulsion configuration, in which an electric motor and a diesel engine act on a single propeller.
The ministry’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency (ATLA) has stressed that the OPVs will be based on a modular system enabling customization and will have strong surveillance capabilities through automation, adaptability, modularity, and sustainability.
The JMSDF has said those patrol vessels are a new class of patrol ships specialized for routine surveillance and monitoring in Japan’s surrounding waters.
In the fiscal 2025 budget, the MoD allocated 4 billion yen to acquire six V-BAT ship-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from U.S. aerospace and defense technology company Shield AI to install them on OPVs. This UAV will be equipped at a later date.
Faced with China’s aggressive maritime expansion and the rising military threat it poses, Japan is under pressure to strengthen its warning and surveillance capabilities in the waters around Japan, especially in the Nansei Islands, the southwestern chain that includes Okinawa. Japan possesses vast territorial waters and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), ranking as the sixth-largest in the world.
According to the 2025 Defense White Paper, as of March 31, 2025, Japan maintains 51 destroyers and 22 submarines. In contrast, China fields 94 modern destroyers and frigates and 55 modern submarines, enabling to increase its activities in waters close to Japan.
At the same time, the JMSDF faces growing operational demands, including overseas deployments and joint exercises, while also confronting future personnel shortages due to declining birth rates.
In response to these challenges, the JMSDF is placing greater emphasis on introducing compact, highly maneuverable, and “reduced-manning” vessels capable of carrying out missions efficiently with fewer crew members, such the Mogami-class and the Sakura-class.
