JMSDF Destroyers like those above are the backbone of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force. Female officers took command of two destroyers this week, the first time in post-war Japan that women have commanded frontline warships.

TOKYO – The next time Chinese sailors lock radar onto a Japanese warship, they may discover they’re aiming at a woman.

The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) this week appointed female officers to command two naval destroyers. It’s the first time that women have been given command of frontline warships since Japan’s modern navy was formed seven decades ago.

“It’s long overdue, and it’s part of a pattern of increasing responsibility being given to women in the Japan Self Defense Forces,” says Garren Mulloy, an associate professor of international relations at Tokyo’s Daito Bunka University.

The milestone comes as Japan is locked in a dangerous standoff with China over ownership of islands in the East China Sea. A Chinese warship last month locked its fire-control radar on the Japanese destroyer JS Yudachi near the uninhabited islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. No shots were fired but the incident produced a formal protest from Japan and demonstrated the increasing volatility of the dispute.