Japan Eyeing Long-Range Weapons

October 16, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Defense Ministry has been stepping up acquisitions of cruise missiles for fighter planes and promoting research on hypersonic missiles.

The moves may give the country the ability to strike enemy bases without in-depth discussions on how to maintain its exclusively defense-oriented national security policy.

The ministry has so far decided to equip the Air Self-Defense Force's F-35A stealth fighters with Norwegian-made Joint Strike Missiles, or JSMs, with a range of about 500 kilometers.

It has also decided to introduce U.S.-made Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, or JASSMs, and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles, or LRASMs, both with a range of about 900 kilometers, for the ASDF's F-15 fighters.

On the reason for the decisions, the ministry said that it is necessary to introduce missiles that can be operated by SDF officers safely from outside areas threatened by opponents.

Missiles with a range of 900 kilometers, if launched from Japan's airspace, can reach North Korea, China and southern Russia. In April, JASSMs were used during an airstrike on Syria mainly by the United States and Britain in April.

For hypersonic missiles that travel at speeds more than five times the speed of sound, the Japanese ministry sought 6.4 billion yen in budget outlays for fiscal 2019, which begins in April next year, to conduct research on an engine for them. It is considering calling for cooperation from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, which has studied hypersonic passenger aircraft.

The research means that Japan will join the United States, Russia and China in the race to develop the next-generation strategic weapons.

A Japanese government official said the research on hypersonic missiles is designed to gain a technological advantage in the development of missiles necessary to defend remote islands and that the country has different goals from the United States and others hoping to develop missiles with a range equivalent to that of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party recently proposed that the country acquire the ability to strike enemy bases to respond to possible missile attacks.

New Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya earlier this month said Japan "is basically dependent on the strike capability of the United States and that there is no change in the idea at the moment." Jiji Press