Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force is getting pretty offensive. The JASDF flies a fleet of about 150 fifth-gen F-35 stealth fighters. Tokyo wants to ensure they’re properly armed, so it’s spending another $175 million or so to buy more Joint Strike Missiles.
The purchase marks Japan’s fifth order for JSMs since 2018. Norwegian-owned Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace designed the missiles. Kongsberg partners with Raytheon to build the JSMs, which are based on the already combat-proven Naval Strike Missile.
JSMs are stealthy, long-range, precision-guided standoff weapons designed to fit in the internal weapons bay of an F-35, thus maintaining the aircraft’s stealth capabilities as well.
Each JSM carries a 275-pound warhead, is accurate against targets on land or at sea and can hit moving targets thanks to advanced guidance and targeting systems that can even track a target automatically.
Like Naval Strike Missiles, Joint Strike Missiles use a low-altitude flight profile to avoid detection. Kongsberg said the JSM’s range is greater than 150 nautical miles, or just over 170 miles.
Because of that range, payload size and stealth characteristics, the Joint Strike Missile is considered a first-strike weapon. If Japan felt its security was imminently threatened, it may consider using these missiles to take out targets in China before Beijing has a chance to act.
China is acting ever more aggressively towards its neighbors in the Pacific.
In a nutshell, Taiwan wants independence. China doesn’t support this and may decide to invade and take the island by force, which could spark a regional conflict.
Japan doesn’t want this to happen, so it’s been heavily investing in its armed forces and has even changed some laws to make it easier to sell weapons to allies in the region.
The JASDF will be integral to heading off any Chinese aggression towards Tokyo. Japan has three air bases from which it operates its fleet of F-35As. The country owns approximately another 40 F-35Bs, which are designed for short takeoff and vertical landing from ships.
Japan recently drilled with the United States on these tactics using its new J.S. Kaga carrier, the second Japanese naval vessel capable of accommodating F-35Bs.
In a conflict, it can be assumed that these ships would operate near Japan.
F-35s have an operational range of around 1,000 miles before needing to refuel. The Nyutabaru Air Base, in southern Japan, is just 975 miles from Beijing, China’s capital.
The combination of fifth-gen stealth fighters armed with stealthy missiles makes it highly likely Japan’s jets could fly undetected just outside China’s airspace and target launchers, silos, trucks, shipyards, depots and more.
Japan isn’t the only U.S. partner in the Pacific with Joint Strike Missiles, either. Australia announced it’s buying some too and even plans to build a factory to build them. In fact, JSMs are in such high demand that Kongsberg is building another factory in Virginia to keep up.
