According to Mainchi Shimbun, one of the major newspapers in Japan, the Japan Ministry
of Defense announced on August 31 that it will commission two Aegis-equipped surface combatants
One will be commissioned by the end of the fiscal year 2027, and the other by the end of FY2028
The budget for design and other related expenses are to be submitted in the form of
“item requests”, without specific amounts and is expected to clear legislation by FY2023.
Construction is to begin in the following year of FY2024.
These will be massive, superseding even the two Izumo class
multi-purpose helicopter carriers that are being retrofitted to accommodate F-35 fighters.
Current information describes the vessel with a standard displacement of 20,000 tons,
an overall length no greater than 210 meters, and a beam of around 40 m.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how potent would be Japan's two supersized new warships?
Let's get started.
Japan was set to expand its ballistic missile defense capabilities
with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet
approving the procurement of two land-based Aegis Ashore missile defense systems on December 19.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is a United States Department of Defense
(DoD), Missile Defense Agency program developed to provide missile defense against short to
intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Aegis BMD is designed to intercept ballistic missiles
post-boost phase and prior to reentry. It enables Aegis-equipped vessels like
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles by expanding the Aegis Combat
System with the addition of the AN/SPY series radar and Standard missile technologies like SM-6
The two Aegis Ashore batteries,
the land-based variant of the Aegis combat system, were planned to strengthen Japanese
defenses against China’s and North Korea’s growing ballistic and cruise missile arsenals.
In June 2020, the Japanese government
canceled the planned construction of Aegis Ashore in Akita and Yamaguchi prefectures
due to cost overruns and concerns regarding debris falling into populated areas etc.
In response to the abandoned project, a new resolution was passed in December 2020
to construct two ships of similar capability for replacement.
The massive displacement will also make the warships the largest surface
combatants in production in the world. It will be twice in displacement compared
to US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and will far outweigh the Chinese Type 055.
The huge scale of the vessels will lend it stability under heavy sea states,
increasing missile interceptor load-out,
and increasing endurance at sea, similarly increasing combat readiness.
Despite the massive stature, reports suggest a planned crew complement
of around 110 sailors and officers, with private cabins for all onboard.
This is as per recent JMSDF plans that call for high automation,
as a response to the shrinking number of personnel in the Force.
The ships are to also be equipped to defend against Hypersonic Glide Vehicles, new hypersonic
missile designs too evasive for current ballistic missile defense systems to reliably intercept.
The Ministry has also made a 40 Billion USD budget request for FY2023,
including budgets for projects such as the accelerated deployment
of long-range counter-strike cruise missiles to destroy adversary installations,
with the possibility of an even higher bill at the budget recompilation at the end of the year.
Most importantly, the new warships will have SPY-7 large radar originally used
for land-based missile defense. Developed by Lockheed Martin,
SPY-7 provides several times the performance of traditional SPY-1 radars – it can detect,
track, and engage sophisticated ballistic missile threats, including multiple threats at once.
The Aegis Ashore batteries will be armed with SM-6 interceptors and SM-3 Block IIA interceptors.
Manufactured by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, SM-6 is a supersonic Mach 3.5+ missile interceptor
with an estimated range of over 180 miles or 289 kilometers.
The SM-3 Block IIA features a variety of upgrades over the Block II version.
It has a larger, more maneuverable exoatmospheric kill vehicle
with longer endurance. It also possesses an upgraded infrared targeting system
that enables it to better distinguish the incoming warhead among the debris.
SM-3 Block IIA is jointly manufactured by Raytheon, Aerojet and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
The Block IIA variant has a max speed of 4.5 km/s or Mach 13.2 and has a range of
1,200 km or 745 miles and a service ceiling of 1050 km or around 650 miles.
It is designed to destroy short-to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats
but tests showed that it can be used to engage ICBMs too.
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's recent actions against Taiwan show that its posturing has become increasing aggressive
The PLAN is now considerably larger than Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force
in both overall tonnage and number of vessels.
With the rise in military power, the Chinese Communist Party has become much more aggressive.
North Korea's arsenal has also grown.
In this situation, Japan needs powerful platforms
that could neutralize incoming threats as well as enable offensive actions.
The huge warships with state of art capabilities will be an excellent deterrent.