The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that on June 2, 2023, it awarded Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) a contract worth 33.9 billion yen ($243 million) for the full-scale development of the so-called "new anti-ship guided missile for the defense of islands" for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces by the end of fiscal year 2027.
A model of the concept of a promising long-range cruise missile (officially the "new anti-ship guided missile for the defense of islands") for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, presented by the Japanese corporation Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) at the DSEI Japan 2023 defense exhibition in Tokyo, March 2023 (c) Takahashi Kosuke / thediplomat.com
It is known that R&D on this missile has been conducted since fiscal year 2018 and its model has already been exhibited by KHI at defense exhibitions in 2022 and 2023 under the name "unobtrusive long-range cruise missile". According to reports from Japanese resources, this missile should be subsonic, have reduced visibility and be equipped with a multi-channel guidance system. The rocket should be equipped with a new small-sized short-life dual-circuit KJ300 turbojet engine developed by KHI with a thrust of up to 363 kg. The maximum range of the missile, as reported, according to the assignment should reach 2500 km, which makes its officially declared anti-ship purpose doubtful, and, apparently, the real main task of the missile is considered high-precision defeat of ground targets. The launch is supposed to be from a ground-based mobile launcher.
Also, the Ministry of Defense of Japan announced the issuance of three new contracts with a total value of 280.8 billion yen ($ 2.014 billion, the specified amount of funding is allocated for five years - from 2023 to 2027 fiscal years) for the development of long-range missile weapons corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. These contracts included:
- contract dated April 27, 2023 for the development of a "hypersonic guided missile", development is planned for 2031 fin. year. The attached image shows a missile launched from a coastal mobile launcher at surface ships.
- contract dated June 1, 2023 for the development of a "high-speed planning missile for the defense of islands (improved type)", development is planned for 2031 fin. year. Apparently, this refers to the development of a modified version (Block 2B) of a rocket with a hypersonic glider unit, the contract for serial production of which in the original version (Block 1) was issued on April 6, 2023. According to the contract dated April 6, this production should be started at the end of 2023, and deliveries are scheduled for 2026-2027. There are no details about this system. Official images published by the Japanese Ministry of Defense under both contracts show 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. According to Japanese resources, 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 some estimates, 300-500 km) should begin, and from the 2030s it was planned to deploy the Block 2B variant with an engine having a range of 2000 to 3000 km.
- contract dated June 2, 2023 for the development of a jet unmanned aerial vehicle for targeting naval targets, development is planned for 2026 fin. year. According to the image, the device should be launched from a ground-based mobile launcher and issue target designation to ground-based long-range anti-ship missile systems.
Recall that these contracts complement four contracts with a total value of 378.1 billion yen ($2.86 billion), issued in early April 2023 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the development and mass production of new types of long-range anti-ship and cruise missiles for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (including the aforementioned contract for the production of the said first-variant missile with a hypersonic glider unit). Thus, the development of long-range strike missile weapons is deployed in Japan on a very large scale.
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The appearance of a promising long-range cruise missile (officially the "new anti-ship guided missile for the defense of islands") for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, developed by the Japanese corporation Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) (c) Ministry of Defense of Japan
An image of the action of a "hypersonic guided missile" for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the contract for the development of which was issued to the Japanese corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (c) the Ministry of Defense of Japan
An image of the action of a "high-speed planning missile for the defense of islands (improved type)" for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the contract for the development of which was issued to the Japanese corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (c) the Ministry of Defense of Japan
An image of the action of a jet unmanned aerial vehicle for targeting naval targets for the Japan Self-Defense Forces, the contract for the development of which was issued to the Japanese corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (c) the Ministry of Defense of Japan
