Posted on 08/12/2023 3:30:59 AM PDT by FarCenter
Japan plans to turn transport aircraft into ad-hoc missile carriers operating from austere and remote airstrips and using a system with significant tactical, operational and strategic implications for conventional and nuclear deterrence vis-à-vis China and North Korea.
The Warzone reported this month that the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MOD) is looking to arm its Kawasaki C-2 transport jets with air-launched missiles to potentially attack enemy bases including missile launch sites in counterstrike operations.
Although the report did not indicate the type of missiles that may be deployed to its C-2 jets, of which it has 13 in active service, it did mention that the MOD seeks to use missiles that are dropped before their engine starts. That, the report said, would not require significant modifications to Japan’s existing aircraft.
The Warzone report notes that the US is developing related technology known as the Rapid Dragon air-launched palletized munition concept, which was first tested in 2021. The report says that Japan may use Rapid Dragon or a similar domestically-developed system aboard its C-130 cargo planes, of which it has 14 units.
Japan may have multiple payload options for a domestically-made palletized munition system. Asia Times reported in June 2023 that Japan is developing an “island defense anti-ship missile” featuring modular warheads and a stealthy turbofan-powered design with a purported 2,000-kilometer range. The missile may contain land attack, electronic warfare (EW) and reconnaissance warheads.
(Excerpt) Read more at asiatimes.com ...
ping
Honorable military advisor will also provide up-to-date sage wisdom and help identify high-value targets to dispatch to ancestors.
Regards,
Good. Balance of power and all that.
Japan is far more armed than anyone is willing to admit.
As long as they are our allies, this is a good thing.
Japan only acts in the interest of Japan. They mostly want to be left alone these days. Oh, and they like making money. Let them have those two things, and they are very happy. Interfere with either pursuit at your peril.
It’s not like they can invade Manchuria these days anyway.
We would do well to emulate that.
Drop n’ Pop
The US has palletized Tomahawks, dropped by C-130s or C-17s.
The P-8 also has a lot of capability.
“Austere and remote airstrips” = any straight stretch of highway for a C-130.
You want the ability to land on a road, refuel and reload from trucks, and take off again, and have everyone be gone before the enemy has time to target you.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UCGhsnj8p7c
—”Japan is far more armed than anyone is willing to admit.”
Far more technology goes into building a new Toyota, than a nuclear weapon.
Of course.
I was only highlighting the poetic, almost pseudo-oriental prose.
Regards,
Happy Life Dragon System
Seems they have had nuclear reactors capable of breeding plutonium for quite a few years.
The old saying was Japan was a screwdriver and a bit of assembly from being a nuclear capable country.
“We do not have the weapons” is not saying they to not have all the components.
All that, and they reprocess spent reactor fuel producing amount other things plutonium.
If they should happen to need any.
Japan's plutonium stockpile climbs to 46.1 tons in 2020, first rise in 3 years
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