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Japan, Tokyo – Japan’s defense minister announced Tuesday that the country aims to develop a longer-range air-to-ship cruise missile in a move believed to be aimed at countering Chinese naval vessels’ advanced capabilities.
Referring to the recent deployment of long-range sea-to-air armaments on warships by “some countries,” Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told a press conference, “We’ll start research and development soon and introduce (the missiles) to the Air Self-Defense Force.”
The plan involves extending the range of Japan’s supersonic ASM-3 air-to-ship missiles, which are said to have a range of less than 200 kilometers, to over 400 km, with the aim of beefing up Tokyo’s ability to defend a chain of outlying islands in the southwest.
Iwaya stressed the need to lengthen the missile shooting range so that fighter jets could launch them from beyond the range of enemy’s weapons.
Japan in fiscal 2017 completed the development of ASM-3 missiles for F-2 fighter jets, which are derived from the U.S. F-16, but they have not been deployed due to their short range.
Source and full English article: The Mainichi
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190319/p2g/00m/0fp/064000c
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