Zitat:Japan Readies Its Ship-Smashing Super-Missile

The Japanese navy has one major mission in wartime: To bottle up the Chinese fleet, preventing Beijing’s warships from reaching the open Pacific Ocean. [...] The ASM-3 lacked range, the ministry decided. Rather than field the missile in its current, 100-mile incarnation, officials sent the weapon back to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with one major note. [...] In mid-July, Japan’s state minister for national defense, Tomohiro Yamamoto, posted a photo on social media depicting an F-2 with the redesigned ASM-3 under its wing.

The ASM-3 flies at a top speed of Mach 3, making it very difficult to intercept. But reaching that speed requires a novel propulsion system. A solid-fuel rocket booster fires first, accelerating the missile to high supersonic speed. That’s when an air-breathing ramjet takes over, feeding off the same solid fuel but adding compressed air for sustained, powerful thrust. The ASM-3’s combined-cycle propulsion explains why it looks like a tiny spaceship. [...]

It’s too big to fit in the weapons bay of an F-35 stealth fighter, which is why Tokyo is buying subsonic Joint Strike Missiles for its F-35s. Presumably, compatibility with the ASM-3 will be a requirement for Japan’s new F-3 stealth fighter. The defense ministry has already test-flown the old version of the ASM-3. The new version soon could begin trials.