In the recent period, when we talked about the powerful performance of YJ-21 and the great tactical significance brought by matching with 055 or even 052D, what many people did not notice is that there is such a thing right next to us. A country that has been quietly developing hypersonic weapons and related technologies for a long time has even entered the research and development stage of practical models. It will be equipped with the first "hypersonic glider" as soon as 2026, which can achieve "outlying islands" high-speed attack. Although this country's hypersonic weapons technology still lags behind that of China, Russia and the United States, globally speaking, it is probably second only to these three countries and is fully capable of competing with European powers. It is actually self-evident who this country is - Japan!
Japan’s high-speed boost-glide missile model has been exposed in the media
In fact, Japan has always been a powerhouse in hypersonic technology and has strong technical reserves in subsystems such as hypersonic materials/power devices. Especially in recent years, as Japan gradually abandons its national policy of "exclusively defending itself" and moves toward the so-called "normalization of national defense," Japan has begun to transfer its technological potential in the field of hypersonics to weapons and equipment. The defense outline of the Japanese Ministry of Defense clearly proposes to develop hypersonic missile weapons. Specifically, Japan hopes to simultaneously develop high-speed boost glide missile and hypersonic cruise missile technology through multiple different projects, and has planned a variety of professional technical research directions such as aircraft shape, control, propulsion, materials and structure. Although Japan claims that the purpose of developing advanced missiles is to meet the needs of offshore island combat missions, the inherent characteristics of high-speed/hypersonic offensive missiles will actually pose a new threat to the security of neighboring countries.
Japan’s Early Orbital Aircraft Project (HOPE)
Judging from the time span, Japan has conducted long-term exploration of hypersonic technology and already has a considerable degree of technology accumulation. Since the 1980s, Japan has been exploring related technologies such as flight equipment, materials, thermal protection, and propulsion through the "Orbital Aircraft Project (HOPE)" and the "Air Turbine Ramjet Project (ATREX)", and from 1994 to In 1996, it completed the orbital re-entry test of the returnable aircraft and the flight test of the hypersonic aircraft . In 2003, it even achieved the world's highest equivalent thrust at Mach 8. This has laid a good foundation for Japan to develop high-speed/hypersonic weapons.
Japan has developed the xasm3 supersonic anti-ship missile
In the past ten years, Japan has become increasingly active in the field of armaments and has begun to propose plans to develop high-speed/hypersonic weapons and equipment. The 2016 "Medium and Long-term Technology Plan" planned the development of weapons, equipment and key technologies in the next two to three decades. It paid great attention to outlying island operations and believed that imaginary enemies would invade outlying islands, requiring Japan to have rapid response and flexible maneuverability. Japan's current precision strikes mainly rely on subsonic cruise missiles, but their strike speed is slow, easy to intercept, poor battlefield survivability, and difficult to effectively deter. Therefore, new high-speed/hypersonic strike weapons are needed to meet the needs of outlying island operations. Based on this "demand" setting, Japan quickly disclosed multiple research projects on high-speed hypersonic missiles. The biggest feature is that the two routes of high-speed boost-glide missiles and hypersonic cruise missiles are carried out simultaneously.
Japan's high-speed boost-glide missile combat settings
Japan's high-speed boost-glide missile project was first disclosed in 2017, and a seven-year (2018-2024) key technology development and verification was planned as the basis for model development. In 2017, the Defense Equipment Agency began to propose the "Research on High-speed Gliding Missile Technology for Island Defense" project, which was later renamed "Research on High-speed Gliding Missile for Island Defense". It not only significantly increased the budget, but also proposed a more detailed development plan. . On the whole, a phased approach is adopted to develop boost gliding warheads. The first phase (early equipment type) uses conical or biconical warheads and is scheduled to be put into use in 2026; the second phase (performance improved type) uses high lift-to-drag ratio gliding. The warhead is planned to be put into use after 2028.
However, although this project has always advertised the concept of "supersonic speed", since the speed indicator has not been disclosed, it cannot yet be confirmed whether it is a hypersonic weapon. In addition, the missile is positioned to attack between islands, with a range of 300-500 kilometers. The operational concept map shows that the missile is launched from a land base. It is estimated that if it is deployed on the main island of Okinawa, the firepower range can cover the Diaoyu Islands (about 420 kilometers distance).
Japan's high-speed boost-glide missile is developed in two stages.
From a technical point of view, this project aims to develop a high-speed boost-glide missile using inertial navigation/GPS navigation. In order to ensure that it can achieve supersonic gliding, it can achieve supersonic gliding in a very short time. It is expected to focus on the research and development of three key technologies to confront the mobile forces of opponents landing on offshore islands and ensure that they are difficult to intercept and improve battlefield survivability.
One is the gliding warhead shape design technology. Gliding at supersonic speed to reach the target in the shortest possible time at a height where it is difficult for the opponent's surface-to-air interceptor missiles to intercept, this requires a high-speed boost glider to glide at high altitudes where the air is thin. Different from the airspace where ordinary aircraft fly, this altitude requires the introduction of motion algorithms in nearby space and combined with repeated trials to obtain a satisfactory warhead shape solution. This is similar to the design status of the reentry orbiter, and Japan already has a certain design and experimental foundation. In addition, it is also necessary to develop heat-resistant structures/materials suitable for supersonic flight, as well as develop technology to reduce RCS to enhance stealth performance.
Super cruise missile concept idea
The second is gliding flight control technology. At high altitudes where the air is thin, the aerodynamic efficiency of the rudder surface of the gliding warhead is low, and the attitude control system (ACS) based on the jet principle needs to be used for flight control; while in the transition area between high and low altitudes, a combination of wing rudder and ACS control is required. To this end, corresponding precise control technology needs to be developed.
The third is the high-performance rocket engine boost technology. In order to ensure that the gliding warhead can be released at the optimal trajectory point and achieve the expected range, the booster is required to have flexible thrust adjustment capabilities, or a multi-stage pulse rocket engine with variable thrust and multiple ignition capabilities will be used. In terms of materials and structure, the pulse rocket engine is expected to adopt a structure of metal shell and fiber reinforced composite material partition.
Japan's hypersonic cruise missile
hypersonic cruise missile project, which is somewhat similar to the American X51A, was first disclosed in 2018. It also planned a 7-year (2019-202) key technology development and verification work, and clearly required the development of Mach 5 and above. Cruise missile technology. In fact, the project has already started relevant preliminary work in 2013, including providing basic technology and design reference for the project through other types of aircraft designs, etc. This shows that Japan's hypersonic cruise missile has been planning and developing for a long time and has made very deep progress. The key to the
project lies in the missile-borne scramjet engine that can operate for a long time, as well as the shape design of the flight engine including the engine inlet, and the local heat-resistant material structure technology of the missile body required for long-term cruising. The scramjet engine is used for missile acceleration and hypersonic cruise. It is expected to use an active cooling system to use fuel to cool the high-temperature parts of the engine. However, it is necessary to ensure that the fuel provides sufficient refrigerant during hypersonic long-distance flight. There is indeed a big problem. technical difficulty. In order to maximize the range of the missile, it is necessary to optimize the shape of the air intake part to significantly reduce the air resistance of the entire missile. In this regard, Japan has already carried out advanced development to optimize the missile body shape and improve the missile's acceleration performance and cruise efficiency during flight.
Japanese hypersonic cruise missile structure diagram
According to Japanese media analysis, the hypersonic missile that Japan will soon equip will have a range and speed that is 30% faster than the Russian Zircon missile. After equipping the land-based launch type, Japan will consider transforming it into a model that can be carried by fighter aircraft such as F-35 for air-launching. The theoretical projectile speed is Mach 5 and the warhead speed is Mach 15. Judging from the basic configuration diagram released, this Japanese hypersonic missile also has an waverider aerodynamic design.Facing Japan's hypersonic missiles that can reach the Kuril Islands in 10 seconds and travel around the world in 6 hours, the air defense systems of neighboring countries will be under much greater pressure than before.
Japan’s hypersonic cruise missile development plan
Although Japan has adopted a development strategy of boosting glide missiles and cruise missiles in parallel, for the former, Japan has changed the project name from "Missile Technology Research" to "Missile Research" in 2019. And the substantial increase in funding seems to indicate that the development process of boost-glide missiles may be ahead of cruise missiles and be the first to achieve practical breakthroughs. Further analysis by
shows that the general idea of Japan's high-speed/hypersonic missiles is roughly: first develop early equipment boost-glide missiles, simultaneously tackle key cruise missile technologies, and then develop performance-improved boost-glide missiles and cruise missiles. Specifically, it can be divided into three stages: the near-term development of boost-glide missiles carrying cone/double-cone warheads, the mid-term development of boost-glide missiles carrying high lift-to-drag ratio warheads, and the long-term development of cruise missiles.
The U.S. CPS hypersonic missile failed two consecutive test launches
This development path seems very familiar, and it is exactly the same as the hypersonic missile development route disclosed by the United States in 2018. First, based on the existing ballistic missile technology, develop a cone-shaped warhead hypersonic boost-glide missile; then develop a wedge-shaped warhead hypersonic boost-glide missile; and finally develop a hypersonic cruise missile. The reason is that the United States has been relatively passive in hypersonic weaponization in recent years. Russian hypersonic missiles such as "Dagger", "Avangard" and "Zircon" have been put into service one after another and have even participated in actual combat. In view of the powerful performance and deterrence value of this weapon, the United States urgently needs to equip its own hypersonic missiles as soon as possible. In the case where many key hypersonic technologies are still lacking, development priorities have to be determined based on maturity, forming a three-step development model.
The U.S. CPS missile is planned to be used on the DDG1000 destroyer
Japan's hypersonic technology is less mature than the United States, and it is expected that it will be difficult to obtain actual combat results in the short term. However, adopting a development idea similar to that of the United States will help reduce the pressure on research and development progress and funding. . Specifically, Japan has accumulated a certain amount of manned aircraft technology and practical flight experience in the early stage, which makes the development of high-speed boost-glide missiles relatively difficult, so it is more suitable for priority development to meet armaments requirements. In comparison, Japan still has a gap in hypersonic cruise missile technology, and it needs sustained investment and longer-term technical research to have a weaponization foundation. Therefore, Japan’s hypersonic cruise missile project will focus its main energy on the core scramjet engine technology research, and the specific progress in the next step deserves attention.
