Now the world is on the verge of the birth of a new weapon - more dangerous and deadly tactically than anything in history. A number of authors believe that it will not be able to change the world and will not become a revolution in military affairs, being a kind of improved version of the already existing cruise missiles and ballistic missiles of operational-tactical complexes. Given the fact that many modern missiles use stealth technology that makes them difficult to intercept, this point of view is to some extent justified.
However, do not forget that a full-fledged hypersonic weapon gives its owner two important trump cards at once. The first is the extreme complexity of interception, and the second is the minimum response time to a threat. Not every enemy will quickly orient himself and take appropriate measures against a warhead flying at a speed of twelve thousand kilometers per hour. Let us recall that it is precisely this speed, according to Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko, that Russian products such as the Zircon will be able to develop (although the more or less confirmed characteristic for this missile is now Mach 8).
The Americans are still more interesting. The US military budget is several times larger than that of the PRC, and about ten times that of Russia. This allows you to work in a variety of directions, be it air, land or sea-based hypersonic weapons. The situation looks something like this. Already in the foreseeable future, the US Air Force will receive an AGM-183A ARRW air-launched missile with a hypersonic maneuvering unit - the United States recently refused from an air-launched Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW).
The US Army should receive the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) ground complex, which is a dual launcher with Common-Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) hypersonic ballistic missiles. The fleet will have something similar - among the first carriers will be the Virginia-class multipurpose submarine.
Dreams of Regional Leadership
It is objectively difficult for the Japanese to compete with such titans as the USA, Russia or China. During the Cold War, they did not have such a developed military-industrial complex as the United States and the USSR, much has to be created from scratch. As for China, for economic reasons it can afford much more than the Land of the Rising Sun.
However, the growing rivalry with China and the increasing focus of the United States on solving its (mainly domestic) problems does not allow the Japanese to relax. Following the fifth / sixth generation fighter (which is beginning to look less and less like the economical ATD-X and more and more like the "expensive" European Next Generation Fighter), Japan got involved in the creation of its hypersonic weapons, no matter how difficult and thorny this path may seem. On March 14, the bmpd blog drew attention to a document published by the Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, entitled "Vision for Future R&D in the implementation of a multidimensional integrated defense force." In it, the Japanese announced the main aspects of the hypersonic complexes being developed in the country now.
Нyper Velocity Gliding Projectiles
There are two complexes in total. The first is a system with a hypersonic gliding warhead Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectiles (HVGP), and the second is a hypersonic cruise missile Hypersonic Cruising Missile (HCM). The HVGP should be a ground-based mobile complex with a solid-propellant missile, which has a hypersonic gliding warhead that can hit ships and ground targets.
The first version of the system will have a range of about 500 kilometers, which is much less than the declared range of Russian and American systems. Recall, according to experts, the range of the already mentioned American LRHW will be able to reach 6,000 kilometers at a block speed of more than five Machs. The Russian "Dagger" (which, however, not everyone considers a hypersonic weapon), depending on the carrier, has a range of 2000-3000 kilometers. Now, recall, the only carrier is the MiG-31K, the rest are still only in the plans.
In the future, the Japanese want to increase the range of their complex, also focusing on "more complex trajectories." It is also known that the anti-ship version of the HVGP is aimed mainly against Chinese aircraft carriers: there is a somewhat amusing parallel with the Soviet-American confrontation at sea, where China will play the role of the United States and the Japanese as the USSR. However, first, the Chinese have to reach at least the level that the Soviet fleet had at the end of the Soviet Union's existence. So far, the Chinese naval forces are objectively weaker in terms of the sum of their qualities.
Hypersonic cruising missile
In the case of the second Japanese complex, the Hypersonic Cruising Missile (HCM), we are talking about a cruise missile with a ramjet engine. For a general understanding of the essence of the issue, you can imagine the experimental American X-51A Waverider or the aforementioned HCSW. It is assumed that the Japanese missile will be able, depending on the version, to hit ground and sea targets, which is relevant given the growth of the potential of the PRC Navy.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense does not provide detailed characteristics of HCM. However, as experts note, the missile's range should be higher than that of the HVGP. For the rocket, they chose an inertial-satellite guidance system in combination with active radar or thermal imaging homing - the same solution was preferred for Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectiles. And also both missiles should receive a tandem penetrating anti-ship warhead Sea Buster, and a multipurpose MEFP (Multiple explosively formed penetrator), with which it will be possible to hit both ground targets and ships.
It is known that Japan intends to launch a network of seven satellites into orbit, which will provide a continuous stream of data that will make it possible to more effectively identify threats and direct hypersonic weapons at them. All this carries new risks.
Money and weapons
Japan intends to spend substantial sums on the implementation of this plan, even by the standards of the well-to-do US Department of Defense. So, for research and development work (R&D) on HVGP, 170 million dollars (or 18.5 billion Japanese yen) were allocated for 2018 and 2019 financial years. For the 2020 financial year, they want to allocate another 230 million dollars, with the army receiving the first version of the complex - to defeat ground targets - in the 2026 financial year. As for the Hypersonic Cruising Missile cruise missile, it is expected to enter service closer to 2030. And then, in the 30s, the Japanese military wants to get improved versions of HCM and HVGP, which, of course, will require additional costs.
In general, one can expect that Japan will become the third after Russia and the United States to have hypersonic weapons in the modern sense of the term. However, the Land of the Rising Sun has a difficult technological rivalry with China ahead, which can end in a conditional victory of one, and no less conditional victory of another.
