On April 11, 2023, the Ministry of Defense of Japan announced that since the beginning of April it has issued four contracts to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Corporation with a total value of 378.1 billion yen ($2.86 billion) for the development and mass production of new types of long-range anti-ship and cruise missiles for the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
Presented at the DSEI-2023 defense exhibition in Tokyo in March 2023, a render design image of a promising Japanese long-range cruise missile, officially a "modernization" of the anti-ship missile of the Japanese coastal mobile missile complex type 12. The Ministry of Defense of Japan issued a contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Corporation on 04/07/2023 for the full-scale development of this cruise missile by 2027 (c) www.navalnews.com The first contract, signed on April 3, concerns the serial production of an upgraded version of the subsonic anti-ship missile of the Japanese coastal mobile missile system type 12.
Under the terms of the contract, the production of upgraded anti-ship missiles 12 will begin at the end of 2023, and deliveries are scheduled for 2026-2027. Information about the characteristics of the upgraded Type 12 missile was not reported, but it is assumed that it will have a maximum firing range increased from 200 km to about 400 km, as well as two-way data transmission equipment and "network-centric capabilities", including external targeting and guidance.
The second contract, issued on April 7, provides for the full-scale development in the period up to 2027 of the long-range cruise missile launched in 2020, officially also on the basis of the "modernization" (development) of the same anti-ship missile of the coastal mobile missile complex type 12. In fact, as it appears from the recently published materials on this program, the speech we are talking about the creation of an almost new, larger, unobtrusive subsonic cruise missile for hitting ground (primarily) and surface targets, and which should be used from land, sea (surface and underwater) and air carriers. The missile should have a multi-channel guidance system and a range of up to 900 km at the first stage, and then up to 1500 km.
Another contract, signed on April 6, provides literally for "serial production of high-speed [hypersonic] gliding missiles for the defense of islands." Production should be started at the end of 2023, and deliveries are scheduled for 2026-2027. There are no details about this system. The official image provided by the Ministry of Defense of Japan shows a kind of hypersonic glider vertically launched with an accelerator from a ground launcher and hitting a ground target. It is known that R&D under this program has been conducted in Japan since 2018. It was reported that from 2026, the deployment of the Block 1 variant with a planning warhead without an engine having a range of "several hundred kilometers" (according to a number of prices, 300-500 km) should be started, and from the 2030s, the deployment of the Block 2B variant with an engine having a range of 2000 to 3000 km is planned.
Finally, the fourth contract of April 8 implies "the development of long-range anti-ship missiles that can be launched from submarines" (meaning - from vertical submarine launchers). The development period is from 2023 to 2027.
Presented at the DSEI-2023 defense exhibition in Tokyo in March 2023, a rendered design image of a promising Japanese long-range cruise missile from the anti-ship missile of the Japanese coastal mobile missile complex type 12, the "modernization" of which the new missile is officially. The Ministry of Defense of Japan 07.04.2023 issued a contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Corporation for the full-scale development of this cruise missile by 2027 (c) www.navalnews.com
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Image of the action of a new upgraded version of the subsonic anti-ship missile of the Japanese coastal mobile missile system type 12 (c) Ministry of Defense of JapanImage of the action of the new Japanese hypersonic missile system "for the defense of islands" (c) Ministry of Defense of Japan
Image of the action of a promising Japanese long-range anti-ship missile system for launching from submarines (c) Ministry of Defense of Japan
