Japan's New Anti-Ship Supersonic Missile

JAPAN Starts Full-Production of New Supersonic Air-to-Ship Missile Soon

A mock-up of XASM-3

JULY17, 2017

From various sources

The Editor

------

The government of Japan has decided to introduce XASM-3, newly developed supersonic air-to-ship missiles to F-2 fighters of Japanese air force from the next fiscal year starting April 2018.

With appropriation of hundreds of million yen budget for procurement, Tokyo hopes the missile moves into series production stage. The new missile is first supersonic flying type to be produced indigenously and hard to be detected. Once equipped to F-2 fighters, it will deter the Chinese navy which is asserting more vocal in the East China Sea and elsewhere.

The new missile to be designated ASM-3 will fly Mach 3 and faster than subsonic missiles of type 80 (ASM-1) and type 93 (ASM-2) that are already introduced in the inventory.

With reduced time to reach a target, while flying so low to avoid radar detection, it would be harder for enemy ship to intercept this missile.

ASM-3 employs Integral Rocket Ramjet (IRR), a combination of solid fuel and ram jet engine for higher flying speed of Mach 3+. Its dual seeker using active radar homing and passive radar homing enhances counter ECM functions. Stand-off firing can make F-2 safer to survive.

Specifications

• Length：5.52m (18.1 ft.)
• Width: 1.19m z(3.9 ft.)
• Diameter: 0.35m (1.15 ft.)
• Max sped：Mach 3 +
• Rnage：80nm+
• Weight：900kg (1,984 lb.)
• Thrust：Integral Rocket-Ramjet
• Guidance method：Inertia/GPS (intermediate phase) + Active/Passive (terminal phase)

XASM-3 is uner devlopment by Mitsubishi Heavy Industiries.