Guess The Japanese Are Getting Serious

[JasonJ]

 

New anti-Kaiju anti-ship missile, XASM3. The XASM3 will replace ASM-1 and ASM-2. 900kg, has over 150km range, reported that top speed can reach mach 3 and flies near the ocean surface, planned to be used by F-2, and planned to enter service next year. Development started in 2010. It combines rocket and turbojet engines.

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/hokuriku/article/news/C

Turbojet vice ramjet? Does it cruise at subsonic and then rocket to the target in terminal phase a la Klub?

 

 

About the type of propulsion, in quotations, its called インテグラル・ロケット・ラムジェットエンジン or "Integral Rocket Ramjet" (also mentioned in the video Chris Werb posted). The Japanese wiki calls it the same and gives it an English acronym IRR. But in the article, it says just "turbo jet and rocket combined" while the Japanese wiki says "solid fuel rocket booster combined with ramjet engine". So now that I think about it, the article probably made a mistake on the propulsion type.. as it doesn't look like a turbo-jet is on the missile.. good catch. While the article quotes someone saying that it can reach mach 3, the wiki says it can go over mach 3. Neither specify whether or not it cruises first and then increases speed at terminal distance.

Edited November 14, 2015 by JasonJ

[a77]

Certainly not equipment for "self-defense". Long overdue IMHO.

 

Self defense in bomb landing crafts, and local bridges to prevent the enemy to advance. Most things can be "self-defense" if you want it. If you take it to the extream you can have a self-defence nuclear wepons, to destroy the invasion fleet

Edited November 14, 2015 by a77

[tankerwanabe]

How big is the warhead on that ASM? The missile itself looks small like a AA missile.

[Chris Werb]

Look again. By western standards, the missile is pretty big. If it hits at >M3.0 then vs most maritime targets even fitting a warhead would arguably be gilding the lily. You're talking effects something like this.

[chino]

The 9-dash line is Abe's wet dream come true as I've always said. They now have all the reasons they need to build all the stuff they had been building only in their anime. Since the 60's (or even earlier), they had been preparing for this by building nearly all their own equipment even though the R&D and the small numbers built meant high costs.

 

Now they need one more stupid move by China to go nuclear.

Edited November 15, 2015 by chino

[JasonJ]

The 9-dash line is Abe's wet dream come true as I've always said. They now have all the reasons they need to build all the stuff they had been building only in their anime. Since the 60's (or even earlier), they had been preparing for this by building nearly all their own equipment even though the R&D and the small numbers built meant high costs.

 

Now they need one more stupid move by China to go nuclear.

Abe wouldn't even be in power right now, the collective-defense security bills would not have past, the constitution would not have been reinterpreted, and the Philippines and Vietnam wouldn't be seeking security pacts with Japan, if China knew how to rise peacefully.

[Nobu]

Counting on Chinese stupidity is like counting on the sunrise at dawn.

[JasonJ]

Counting on Chinese stupidity is like counting on the sunrise at dawn.

 

From my humble observations, the PRC is pursuing a strategy of salami slicing. They will push where ever there is room and they will yield wherever there is push back. They won't do anything drastic as long as the push back against them isn't drastic. And even assuming drastic action against China, such as the complete destruction of the PLA Navy in the South China Sea and Hainan areas, the PRC can't really do anything drastic yet anyway. They are still mostly in the waiting phase. Their patience has been demonstrated in the 2014 umbrella protests in Hong Kong. So in the meantime, they will continue their economic development. They are currently at an economic transition that is difficult to pull off and it may test the very limits of the CCP's interest in its own existence as the sole political party with very tight control on speech and its necessity to conduct "anti-corruption" campaigns for the purpose of eliminating political opposition within the CCP. That economic transition will be increasing domestic consumption, relying less on exports, and develop a vibrant high tech industry and a multitude of other briskly functioning industries so that they all augment each other. By the very nature of the CCP, a healthy environment for such changes may not be possible.

 

So while they do a lot of stupid stuff internally that ultimately shoots them in the foot for becoming the regional power in Asia and the Asia-pacific with generally favorable opinions among its neighbors. A new counter weight to American stupidity would be nice. The PRC's strategy is to try to become the regional power while ensuring CCP rule. Their foreign policy so far makes that clear while also serving, as duel purpose, domestic consumption for rally around the effects for CCP. That totally ruins China's chance to become a favorable regional power, which is highly unfortunate but not so surprising giving their long track record, but it still does not change their aspiration to become the regional power as they politically currently are. So they won't do anything drastic. The construction of 3 airstrips on man-made islands in the South China Sea might have been too drastic, and thus be what you have been praying for, as now many neighboring countries are losing trust in China. Their 9 dash line claim is too big also. A funny joke 10 years ago. But since then, future prospects take the joke element away.

 

However, China did gain influence in a few neighboring countries in exchange for the many that lost trust in China, namely South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, and possibly Myanmar. But these countries generally play middle power, taking advantage of the tuck and pull between China on one hand and the US/Japan on the other. South Korea is particularly tied to China because of China holds the greatest external hand on North Korea. And it guarantees South Korea large markets. It may be a good long term strategy for South Korea, but in the short and medium term, lets just say, the Koreatimes news webpage tends to get under my skin almost every time I visit it and will continue to do so. Well in short, those 4 probably won't go past the middle stance between China and the US/Japan. But it definitely demands great attention with long term prospects in mind, keeping a close eye to see if they do pass the middle stance and shift towards China. And this must be considered should the West get into a new crusade in a end of the world scenario in the ME and North Africa as that will drain the treasure of the west, enabling a good opportunity for the PRC to greatly raise its relative power in the world since they will just stand by and watch the west and Islam whack each other.

[DougRichards]

 

New anti-Kaiju anti-ship missile, XASM3. The XASM3 will replace ASM-1 and ASM-2. 900kg, has over 150km range, reported that top speed can reach mach 3 and flies near the ocean surface, planned to be used by F-2, and planned to enter service next year. Development started in 2010. It combines rocket and turbojet engines.

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/hokuriku/article/news/C

Turbojet vice ramjet? Does it cruise at subsonic and then rocket to the target in terminal phase a la Klub?

 

 

Mach 3? That implies significant kinetic energy even without a warhead.

[chino]

 

Mach 3? That implies significant kinetic energy even without a warhead.

 

 

Good observation. I just thought the speed made it impossible to counter once launched.

[swerve]

How big is the warhead on that ASM? The missile itself looks small like a AA missile.

It's about 900 kg. An AMRAAM is about 150kg.

 

 

 

BTW, the Japanese MoD TRDI says it has an integral rocket-ramjet, not turbojet. Presumably that's the source for Japanese Wiki. Jason must be right that the turbojet reference is wrong, probably a translation error.

Edited November 15, 2015 by swerve

[JasonJ]

Just to clearly indicate where the article mistakenly says turbojet.

 

 

In the underline part is:

 

ロケットとターボジェット

 

Which means "rocket and turbojet"

 

The whole sentence it is in: ロケットとターボジェットを組み合わせた「インテグラル・ロケット・ラムジェットエンジン」を搭載し、従来の空対艦ミサイルより推進速度が速いのが特徴。

 

Which means: The "Integral Rocket Ramjet" that combines a rocket and turbojet is loaded on and features a propulsion speed greater than previous air anti-ship missiles.

 

The article made the mistake by using ターボジェット (Turbojet) instead of using ラムジェット (Ramjet) in the short description. This is despite the fact that the word "ramjet" is part of the actual name of the propulsion giving in the quotation 「インテグラル・ロケット・ラムジェットエンジン」.

 

Japanese quotations are 「」 so 「blah blah blah」 means "blah blah blah"

 

Whoever wrote the article probably doesn't know anything about aircraft engine types or maybe by just the slip of their finger typed turbo instead of ram without thinking.

Edited November 16, 2015 by JasonJ

[DB]

I seem to recall that the US had developed (prototype) "rocket ramjets" where the ramjet internals were filled with solid rocket fuel to act as a boost phase, then switching to ramjet thereafter (with presumably a liquid injected fuel). Might have been in the context of either 120mm ramjet boosted rounds or maybe one of the proposed hypersonic ATGM designs that was all the rage 10 years ago or so.

[Josh]

Also the ASALM or whever that Reagan era cruise missile was. Don't the Russians have some ramjets that work that way? But in any case that sounds like the mechanism of this weapon.

[swerve]

Didn't the Soviet 3M9 (?) missile for the SA-6 system do that?

[JasonJ]

The beginnings of Japanese counter-terrorism intelligence.

 

KUALA LUMPUR – As Japan gears up to host a key summit next year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that the government will set up a new intelligence gathering unit on terrorism as early as next month.

“Ahead of the Ise-Shima summit, we will boost our counterterrorism measures and bolstering intelligence gathering with the international community is a pressing issue. For this end, we will create a new intelligence gathering unit,” Abe said at a news conference after wrapping up a series of regional summits in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Abe’s remarks come as the international community is putting up a united front to combat terrorism in the wake of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, which left 130 people dead.

Next year’s Group of Seven summit, which will bring together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, will be held in May in Mie Prefecture.

A government source said Friday that Tokyo is arranging for the Foreign Ministry’s new intelligence gathering unit on terrorist activities to have four overseas bases — in Amman, Cairo, Jakarta and New Delhi.

The government plans to assign staff from the foreign and defense ministries and the National Police Agency with regional expertise and fluency in local languages to the overseas offices, according to the source.

Intelligence teams will be set up at the Japanese embassies in those cities, with the unit’s members given the status of diplomat. The move is also aimed at enhancing cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies.

 

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/11/22/national/politics-diplomacy/japan-set-terrorism-intelligence-unit-early-next-month-abe/#.VlG8eL8XXKA

[zaarin7]

I'm quite sure there personnel will have no problem blending in with the locals in Amman, Cairo and New Delhi unless they pose as turists.

[JasonJ]

 

 

Plans for stationing JGSDF on Nansei Islands.

 

 

奄美大島

Amami Oshima: 550 personnel. By 2018.

 

宮古島

Miyakojima: 700-800 personnel. By 2018.

 

石垣島

Ishigakishima: 500-600 personnel. By 2019.

 

These three include civil disturbance unit, anti-ship missile unit, and SAM unit.

 

与那国島

Yonagunijima: 150 personnel. By the end of 2015. Coastal Surveillance unit.

Edited December 2, 2015 by JasonJ

[Panzermann]

What is written next to the circle shaped marking north of Ishigakishima and Yonagnijima?

[JasonJ]

What is written next to the circle shaped marking north of Ishigakishima and Yonagnijima?

That would be the Senkaku islands. I'll give all 5 in position of the map.

 

 

China..............................East China Sea

 

Taiwan........Senkaku islands.......Okinawa main island

Edited December 3, 2015 by JasonJ

[Panzermann]

Thanks.

 

Makes sense to mark this contested island.

 

 

I had recognized the symbol for China. Okay the rectangle with vertical line through the middle is easy to recognize.

[JasonJ]

Thanks.

 

Makes sense to mark this contested island.

 

 

I had recognized the symbol for China. Okay the rectangle with vertical line through the middle is easy to recognize.

 

It's a start

 

中 Generally means middle. 国 means country, and there it is, the "Central Kingdom" name.

 

Some other examples..

 

韓国 South Korea

米国 United States

独国 Germany

 

However, the names of most countries are regularly not used in this way but with the katakana alphabet (Japanese has 3 alphabets), especially in conversation. So in the katakana alphabet, a couple of examples.

 

アメリカ United States

トイツ Germany

 

China and South Korea don't have a common katakana name, most likely because of their long historical existence in proximity to Japan. Katakana is often used for foreign words and generally stay close to the original pronunciation of the borrowed word. The first three examples above the katakana examples are in Kanji and are not borrowed words but are Japanese-language-made words for those countries. Newspapers and academic books generally use the kanji way, one reason probably is because it is shorter. To help illustrate the difference between katakana in the above examples, note the very different pronunciations.

 

United States:

米国 beikoku

アメリカ amerika

 

Germany:

独国 dokukoku (doh ku koh ku) I added the h to prevent a pronunciation reading similar to the English "to".

トイツ doitsu

 

So for conversation, use ドイツ and for writing thesis papers, reports, etc, often 独国 will be the more suitable one to use.

[Panzermann]

Thank you. I will remember that when I write my next doctor thesis in japanese.

 

doitsu is much kawaii.

 

 

I always had a bit japanophilia going, but never enough to actually tackle learning the language. Well when I stay o. tank net you are going to rub off on me.

 

a japanese exchange student explained to me that maga are much better in japanese original because they play with the writing all the time. Like an old guy only talking in kanji, because he was so old fashioned and such. And a wild mix across all three (well four if you count latin alphabet, romaji) is often used as well. Carrying meaning.

 

 

I read that famous Musashi was born as Takezo and he started to read his name backwards. Is that true?

[JasonJ]

Thank you. I will remember that when I write my next doctor thesis in japanese.

 

doitsu is much kawaii.

 

 

I always had a bit japanophilia going, but never enough to actually tackle learning the language. Well when I stay o. tank net you are going to rub off on me.

 

a japanese exchange student explained to me that maga are much better in japanese original because they play with the writing all the time. Like an old guy only talking in kanji, because he was so old fashioned and such. And a wild mix across all three (well four if you count latin alphabet, romaji) is often used as well. Carrying meaning.

 

 

I read that famous Musashi was born as Takezo and he started to read his name backwards. Is that true?

 

no problem.

 

Musashi, you got me on something I don't know that I probably should know. Well granted there's a lot to know about any country so I'll claim innocent for being unable to answer your question. Although a quick look at his wiki, and seeing he was a samurai in the 1600s, it wouldn't surprise me. People back then changed their name many times.

 

I'd have to agree with the exchange student that you have exchanged words with. The way of using one's language as part of the communication experience can't be translated. And yeah, romaji adds a 4th alphabet.

 

I have been a bit of a Japanophile myself before embarking on actually learning the language. Something resonates. It's hard to clarify the origin of it. But strange enough, my Japanese learning was actually born out of my own initiative to learn Korean. After about 2-3 months of studying Korean. The Korean learning took a back seat to the Japanese learning although the Korean learning was never abandoned and I still study it.

 

The one regrettable thing to my focus on East Asia, and consequently, putting time into learning those languages, is that it puts German learning on the side. My junior high school and high school only offered Spanish, Italian, and French. If there was German, I would have done that hands down. I took Spanish and wasn't motivated at the time which was a waste. Today I could have made much better use out of the time in those Spanish classes. But anyway, I try to squeeze in German once in a while, and little by little, it'll develop, just that the piecemeal activity needs a long enough timescale. TN helps with that

[patteng]

 

国 - I have noticed this before, but what's the history and general practice behind the Japanese adoption of the simplified Chinese characters?