Japan appears to be enhancing its maritime strike capabilities, with the recent sighting of a new, long-range, stealthy, air-launched, anti-ship missile undergoing flight testing.
A Mitsubishi F-2B from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) – assigned to the Air Development and Test Wing – was photographed carrying two of the new missiles, one beneath each wing, during flight trials conducted from Gifu Air Base on 30 July and 4 August.
Mounted on the inner-wing hardpoints at Stations 4 and 8, the missile is notably larger than both the JASDF’s primary anti-ship weapon, the ASM-2, and the newer supersonic ASM-3.
While the missiles have not been officially identified, their size and configuration suggest they are an air-launched derivative of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Type 25 surface-to-ship missile (25SSM), itself derived from the Type 12 anti-ship missile.
The 25SSM was announced by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force as having been operationally deployed on 31 March this year. Reportedly it has a 1,000km range and is able to target both naval and land-based assets.
Like the 25SSM, the new air-launched missile has an overall low-observable design optimised for cruise at high subsonic speeds. There are folding wings on the upper half of the body, cruciform tailfins and an underslung engine intake.
The missile is expected to utilise a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system, before it transitions to a radio frequency seeker for the later attack phase. The absence of an optical aperture on the missile’s nose suggests it does not currently feature an infrared seeker for this terminal-attack phase. However, this configuration could change in later development or production models.
Like most modern, air-launched, anti-ship missiles, the weapon likely features a data link that allows the launch aircraft to transmit in-flight target updates, including the ability to redesignate targets if required.
Reports indicate the new missile is planned to enter service on upgraded JASDF F-2s from 2027, beginning with the 3rd Tactical Fighter Squadron located at Hyakuri.
For the JASDF, the missile would substantially extend the F-2’s maritime-strike reach, complementing its existing ASM-2 inventory and the ongoing introduction of variants of the supersonic ASM-3.
This development reflects Tokyo’s broader shift towards long-range counterstrike and anti-ship capabilities, giving Japanese forces the ability to threaten adversary naval forces and land targets from considerably greater distances.
Beyond these anti-ship missile developments, Japan has also operationalised the domestically developed Type 25 Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (25HGP), as well as procuring from overseas Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles for its destroyers, Joint Strike Missiles (JSM) for its F-35As, and AGM-158 JASSMs for its F-15s and other fighters.
