Japan is reportedly considering purchasing Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Unites States. The Japanese government is reportedly considering putting the Tomahawks on Japan’s Aegis-capable guided missile destroyers in its Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet, although the ships will require modification in order to do so. Despite the Japanese constitution prescribing an exclusively defensive posture, the growing...
On May 10, China’s Ministry of Defense announced that it successfully tested a new type of missile on the Bohai Coast between China and the Korean Peninsula. Although the exact type of missile tested is unconfirmed, analysts suspect that the missile was a variant of the DF-26, an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The test comes after the...
On May 3, the United States tested its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile for the second time in recent weeks. As in the April 26 test, the unarmed missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and flew 4,200 miles, landing near the Marshall Islands. The Minuteman III is the only land-based missile...
On May 1, 2017, U.S. officials declared that the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea has reached initial operational capability. According to Col. Robert Manning III, a spokesman for the United States Forces Korea, the system “is operational and has the ability to intercept North Korean missiles.” The South Korean Defense Ministry echoed Manning’s...
Note: Later information has revealed that the KN-17 refers to the Hwasong-12, not the Scud-variant as previously believed. On April 29, North Korea test-fired another KN-17 short-range ballistic missile. According to the South Korean military, the missile traveled approximately 34 km and reached an altitude of about 70 km before disintegrating. The launch constitutes North...
Between April 6 and April 13, the U.S. Navy successfully tested four Standard Missile 6 Block 1 (SM-6 Blk 1) interceptors outfitted with the most recent hardware and software packages, designed to improve the system’s air and missile defense and surface warfare capabilities. According to U.S. Navy, two of the flights set SM-6 records for...
According to reports, Romania has announced its intent to procure the Patriot air and missile defense system. Romania, a NATO member, would purchase the Patriot missile defense batteries to work with its integrated air and missile defense system, which also includes six recently purchased F-16 fighter jets and the Aegis Ashore missile defense radar deployed...
On April 21, 2017, the Indian Navy conducted the first test-launch of the sea-to-land variant of its Brahmos two-stage supersonic cruise missile. The Brahmos was launched from the Indian naval warship the INS Teg (F45) off the coasts of the Andman and Nicobar Islands. This variant of the Brahmos has a range of 290 km...
On April 20, 2017, Lockheed Martin announced that the Long Range Discrimination Radar passed its preliminary design review, an important step in meeting the 2020 deployment deadline. The preliminary design review required Lockheed to achieve a Technology Readiness Level 6, meaning it has passed the developmental phase, and a Manufacturing Readiness Level 6, which means...
According to ROK military officials, South Korea is in the final stage of developing its low-tier missile defense system. The development of South Korea’s Medium-range Surface-to-Air Missile (M-SAM) comes soon after successful testing and is one component of South Korea’s Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system. The system will undergo a final evaluation next month in...
