Norway's Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace and Japan's Ministry Of Defense have signed a
deal for Joint Strike Missiles (JSM).
This deal could lead to Japan acquiring a significant stockpile of JSM.
The important part is that JSM is a dual role weapon capable of anti ship as well as land
attack missions.
The versatile missile is going to add a lot of teeth to the offensive capability of Japanese
forces.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes why acquiring of Joint Strike Missiles (JSM) by
Japan will be a major challenge for China?
Let's get started.
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Japan has watched as the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has gone from a green water
navy capable of operating only in regional seas relatively close to home to a full-fledged
blue water fleet operating as far as the Indian Ocean and Baltic Sea.
China has maintained very high economic growth over the last 20 years & has become a major
economic power.
It has spent heavily on military buildup & modernized its military forces.
The PLAN is now considerably larger than the Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force in both
overall tonnage and number of ships.
China’s rise , as predicted by many experts is not peaceful.
In recent times, China has been very aggressive in it’s posturing.
Its activities are far off from being a sensible nation.
China’s corrosive behaviours in South China Sea and neighbouring areas has not gone noticed.
Japan has been increasing conscious of the fact that its territory which is surrounded
by waters is vulnerable to naval strikes.
Keeping this in view, one of Japan’s most top military priority has been to deploy jets
that can carry anti-ship cruise missiles
According to Japan’s constitution adopted after the Second World War, it is a pacifist
country.
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution states that "The Japanese people forever renounce
war and the threat or use of force.”
It can be argued that acquiring the JSM is against the constitution.
But slowly but surely, Japan’s way of looking at this is changing in the face of Chinese
threat.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has long sought to enable the Japanese Self Defense
Force to have a more aggressive role.
A clear shift was witnessed when Japanese MoD decided to order 42 F-35Bs for Izumo class
aircraft carriers.
This is the first time Japan will fielded a flattop with fixed-wing fighter jets with
offensive capability.
The JSM is based on Naval Strike Missile (NSM) and was developed by Kongsberg in partnership
with Raytheon and is capable of anti ship role as well as land attack missions.
It has a range of roughly 350 miles when using a normal trajectory whereas a range of 175
miles when using low altitude trajectory.
The JSM carries a 500 lb warhead making it powerful enough to neutralise most targets.
It has an elaborate navigation suite that includes GPS, INS, and terrain mapping.
The terrain mapping feature makes it possible for the missile to find its target even if
the the GPS navigation is jammed.
In the terminal phase of the flight it uses imaging infrared (IIR) seeker to home in on
the target.
The missile has a two-way data-link throughout its flight.
This allows it to be monitored continuously and gives operator the flexibility to abort
mission or redirect the missile to a different target till the last moment.
JSM is designed to be stealthy & very manoeuvrable, so it can approach its target from different
paths making it very hard to intercept.
Japan has multiple platform that can be used to deploy the JSM
1. F-35A : The missile will fit in the weapon’s bay of the aircraft enabling it to maintain
its stealth profile.
This combination will have a strike range of around 1000 miles , which is sufficient
enough to even target Beijing.
The will be the most deadly adversary for China.
2. F-35B from Izumo class warships: The missile will not fit into F 35Bs weapons bay since
it is smaller than that of F35As weapon bay.
But even when externally attached, the missile will not degrade the stealth profile of F35Bs
to a great extend as it is itself stealthy.
3. 4th generation fighters: Japan has Mitsubishi F-2 & F-15J which will be able to carry JSM
through their external hardpoints.
34. P-1 : The maritime patrol aircraft which is currently equipped with the AGM-84 Harpoon
, could also be used to carry the JSM
With JSM, Japan is arming itself with a very flexible and potent missile.
China’s aggressive military posturing may come back to haunt it , if Japan restarts
its militarization.
It must be noted that Japan already has strong military thought it has not gone all out in
its pursuit.
If Japan decisively takes that path, it could rise in a very short time.
Another important aspect is the U.S is Japan’s ally and is bound by treaty of 'Mutual Cooperation
and Security' to come to Japan’s aid incase Japan faces aggression from an external party.
Keeping all the aspects in consideration, we may see a major strategic shift in Asia
where Japan prepares itself to mount a challenge against Chinese hegemony.