Japan, UK To Co-Develop Next-Gen F-35 Missiles

[Aepsilons]

@mike2000 , good to see both our countries are working together

__________________________________________


Japan and the UK will team up to develop next-generation air-launched missile technologies, the Asian nation has said, simultaneously announcing a plan to export indigenous missile components to other parts of the world.

The move follows by mere weeks Japan's decision to revise its defence forces' operational restrictions, allowing them to support certain international warfighting efforts when, previously, they could not.

"There is a misunderstanding that Japan will be involved in war in an effort to defend a foreign country, but this is out of the question", Prime Minister Shinzo Abe explained at the time. "It will be strictly a defensive measure to defend our people. We will not resort to the use of force in order to defend foreign forces."

Next-Gen F-35 Missiles

Together, the UK and Japan are set to work on next-gen F-35 missiles to equip the Lightning II stealth multirole fighters that one day the JASDF (Japanese Air Self Defence Force) will operate, it's envisaged. According to Japanese officials, they will advance the Meteor missile development programme already in motion, while Japan alone will also ship out a component employed in the PAC-2 surface-to-air missile: a first-time event in the modern age.

Japanese weapons export regulations were loosened-up three months ago. Still now, Japanese weapons cannot be supplied to nations in breach of United Nations Security Council rules but Japan can export items destined to maintain or enhance world peace and/or national security efforts.

Japanese And British Missile

The Meteor Beyond-Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) has a top speed of Mach 4, can strike targets located more than 100 kilometres away and is compatible with the Eurofighter Typhoon, SAAB JAS-39 Gripen and other 21st century combat aircraft. "We believe that we can create more sophisticated products by bringing together the finest technologies from both Britain and Japan", a defence official told media representatives in late July 2014.

Japan is set to acquire F-35s to take over from the upgraded but still-1960s-era F-4 Phantom IIs in its current service. Besides Japan and Britain, other nations moving in on or having ordered the F-35 include South Korea and Australia.


Japan, UK To Co-Develop Next-Gen F-35 Missiles: Armed Forces International News

 

[BoQ77]

The co-develop make the process done faster. Wise move !!!

 

[Aepsilons]

The co-develop make the process done faster. Wise move !!!

The joint produced BVRAAM missile can travel at Mach 4 to strike its intended target.

Just love Japanese-British cooperation

 

[hans]

Current air-air missile can all reach around march 4..
The major difference is the longer distance, capacity to capture target under electronic interference, smart communication..

The joint produced BVRAAM missile can travel at Mach 4 to strike its intended target.

Just love Japanese-British cooperation

View attachment 160890

 

[vsdave2302]

The co development is the mantra of Fast and more sophisticated weapon development in today's world.

 

[Aepsilons]

The co development is the mantra of Fast and more sophisticated weapon development in today's world.

This is just the beginning...

 

[Steve781]

Good to see cooperation between Island nations.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

This is just the beginning...

Any updates on Japan's role in the Meteor project? This news dates back to July, I can't find anything since then about a Japanese role in the Meteor program. Do you have any news?

I know Japan was offering help with the seeker head, but can't find any updates.

From a July, 2014 article:

"We welcome the decision by the government of Japan to share information on missile-seeker technology with the U.K.," said a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense.

The program is likely to focus on the guidance technology in the Mitsubishi Electric AAM-4B air-to-air missile, which entered production in 2010 to equip Japanese Boeing F-15sand Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’s F-2s. Britain has sought "advanced sensor technology" from Japanese companies, says the Japan Times.

The AAM-4B seeker with an active, electronically scanned array (AESA), that should significantly outperform radars with mechanically scanned antennas used in other missiles of medium-and long-range, including the Meteor. The better the missile radar, the greater the distance at which it can detect a target andthe earlier the launching fighter can stop transmitting guidance commands and turn away for safety.

This may be a particularly important issue for a missile with very long effective range such as the Meteor; short seeker detection distance would force the launching aircraft to point toward the target for an unusually long period while the weapon covered the intervening space. The ability to engage at great range and turn away early may be especially valuable for the F-35, which has been criticized for modest flight performance that could make it vulnerable if it flew too close to a high-performance adversary, such as the Sukhoi Su-35S...

But the Meteor’s body diameter, at 178 mm (7 in.), is less than the AAM-4B’s 203 mm (8 in.), so the AAM-4B’s seeker would need to be repackaged for installation and the European missile and the antenna would have to be smaller. Mitsubishi Electric makes the "transmitter unit" of the seeker, says the Japanese ministry of defense.

Mitsubishi Electric and the Defense Ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute are also working on AESA radars that, by using gallium-nitride as a semiconductor, can generate greater power than those of conventional gallium-arsenide technology...

Formal agreement on the joint missile research is expected at a meeting of Japanese and British foreign and defense ministers that will be held as early as September, the Japan Times says.

Japan, Britain To Collaborate On Meteor Guidance | AWIN ONLY content from Aviation Week

From the same article:

At the July 17 meeting, the National Security Council also approved the sale of PAC-2 missile parts by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Raytheon.

Ironic isn't it, selling PAC-2 parts to Raytheon.

The joint produced BVRAAM missile can travel at Mach 4 to strike its intended target.

Just love Japanese-British cooperation

View attachment 160890

Think Japan has any interest in something like this?

New (still quite secret) Hit-to-Kill missile for the F-35 unveiled: the Lockheed Martin “Cuda”

Until a photo with an interesting caption appeared on the November 2012 issue of Air Force Magazine, few people had noticed that an F-35 display model at the Air Force Association Technology Expo 2012, had its weapon bays loaded with a brand new type of air-to-air missile: the Lockheed Martin “Cuda”.

“A Lockheed Martin model shows how its “’Cuda” concept for a small AMRAAM-class radar guided dogfight missile could triple the air-to-air internal loadout on an F-35. The missile is about the size of a Small Diameter Bomb and fits on an SDB-style rack.”

Photo caption aside, almost nothing is known about the “Cuda” missile.

“We are having some challenges getting information on Cuda cleared for public release,” Cheryl Amerine, Cuda POC at the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, told The Aviationist.

“Cuda is a Lockheed Martin multi-role Hit-to-Kill (HTK) missile concept. Lockheed Martin has discussed the missile concept with the United States Air Force. The Cuda concept significantly increases the internal carriage capacity for 5thgeneration fighters (provides 2X to 3X capacity). Combat proven HTK technology has been in the US Army for over a decade. Bringing this proven HTK technology to the USAF will provide potentially transformational new capabilities and options for new CONOPS.”

The Hit-to-Kill missile technology Lockheed is designing for the USAF is still classified and some of the capabilities of the Cuda missile are being reviewed for public release. Still, something can be said based on the few details available.

First of all, the F-35 will carry kinetic energy interceptors: “hit-to-kill” weapons rely on the kinetic energy of the impact to destroy their target. That’s why some HTK missiles don’t carry any warhead (others use a lethality enhancer warhead).

HTK technologies can be used for missile defense (Scuds, rockets or even ballistic missiles). Is someone at the Pentagon studying the possibilty to use F-35s carrying clusters of Cudas as aerial anti-missile systems to intercept small rockets, SAMs (surface-to-air missiles)?

Second, that unlike Sidewinders, Cuda missiles, rather than being equipped with an IIR (Imaging Infra Red) seeker, will be radar-guided. This means they will be ejected from the internal bays in such a way the exposure of the stealth plane is reduced.

Third, the possible integration of the Cuda with the F-22: since a Raptor can carry eight SDB, it can theoretically carry up to eight Cuda, even if the perfect air-to-air loadout could be mix of AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-9X and Cuda missiles.

From The Aviationist » New (still quite secret) Hit-to-Kill missile for the F-35 unveiled: the Lockheed Martin “Cuda”

 

[Aepsilons]

@SvenSvensonov , I've not seen any updates as of late. But usually Japan does not tend to report specifics until production is already in full swing. He he he...

Good to see cooperation between Island nations.

I raise my glass to that, Steve-San !

 

[Aegis DDG]

@SvenSvensonov , I've not seen any updates as of late. But usually Japan does not tend to report specifics until production is already in full swing. He he he...



I raise my glass to that, Steve-San !

Japan and Britain, two once great naval empire and allies before WW2 .

 

[mike2000]

The joint produced BVRAAM missile can travel at Mach 4 to strike its intended target.

Just love Japanese-British cooperation

View attachment 160890

Good to see this bro. I didnt even noticed this news. I'm glad to see two of the worlds largest/most powerful islands nations joining forces in producing weapons systems together. Looking forward to more such news. Kanpai.