alternatehistory.com

This ties into an older thread I made about Imperial Japan in the Cold War.

I'm wondering how a surviving Imperial Japan might have adjusted to the changes and possibilities of the Atomic Age. As with everything in Imperial Japan, there were two competing Army and Navy programs. The Army Ni-Go Project was led by Yoshio Nishina and researched the use of thermal diffusion and cyclotrons to enrich material. It seems to have been focused more on weapons. The Navy F-Go Project was led by Bunsaku Arakatsu and planned to use ultracentrifuges spinning at 60,000 rpm to enrich material. It also had access to a heavy water facility in Hungnam, Korea, which had the potential for production levels as high as Vemork in Norway (although it never reached those levels). The Navy program was focused more on using nuclear energy to replace petroleum, although I am unsure if that means for national or naval use (or both).

I'm wondering how these competing programs would play out both in terms of military and economic affairs as Imperial Japan entered the Atomic Age. Japanese politics was heavily based around the military, and it seems that would definitely be the case with the Army focusing on weapons and the Navy on energy. Would the Army try to take control of aviation and rocketry in Imperial Japan to deliver its weapons with the Navy countering by going for control of nuclear energy and perhaps even the entire nuclear program due to its superior enrichment technology? Would Imperial Japan pursue nuclear technology even more aggressively than historical Japan given its scarce resources and lack of a negative nuclear history?

What kinds of forces might the two branches deploy? Would the Army focus on strategic aviation and rockets while the Navy tries to develop strategic aircraft carriers akin to the USS United States and strategic seaplane bombers akin to the Martin P6M Seamaster?
Top