According to the latest news reported by foreign media, the United States and Japan have signed a development agreement to spend $3 billion to develop new weapons, and this so-called new weapon is a defense system that can intercept hypersonic weapons. If you want to ask which hypersonic weapon is stronger in the world today, there is no doubt that it is the PLA. Therefore, the intention of the joint research and development of the United States and Japan this time is obvious, that is, it is aimed at the trump card of the PLA, and China should be vigilant!
On May 15, the United States and Japan signed a cooperation agreement to acquire a hypersonic missile defense capability by 2030, enabling them to shoot down hypersonic missiles that have entered a gliding state, according to the latest report by Agence France-Presse. It is reported that the project, which is planned to cost $3 billion, was originally announced by the leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea at a tripartite summit held at Camp David in the suburbs of Washington in August last year.
As the saying goes, the best defense is offense, and the United States, which has long been a military power, has implemented the same. It is precisely for this reason that the United States has spent a huge amount of money to pull Japan in, and it is eager to obtain a certain aspect of defense capability, which has also aroused high concern. This means that the United States and its allies are already at a disadvantage in this area.
In fact, the United States got up early in the field of hypersonics, but it was late. In the field of hypersonics, the United States has the most comprehensive systematic research, and has developed and tested a number of hypersonic vehicles, the most famous of which is the X43 demonstrator, which was systematically tested as early as 2001. However, the X43's first flight failed, and the rocket carrying the X43 disintegrated when it hit the sound barrier. And the X51 "Wave Rider" was not much better, suffering three setbacks in a row, only succeeding in the last test.
The successive setbacks in the hypersonic test vehicle have led to the slow progress of the US military in hypersonic weapons. To this day, the U.S. military still does not have a mature and reliable hypersonic weapon that has entered the deployment stage. On the other hand, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has publicly demonstrated a mature hypersonic missile with the model "DF17" as early as 2019. It is understood that in addition to this, the PLA also has several models of hypersonic missiles, such as the single payload of the H-6, which is also in a semi-open state.
Why are the United States and Japan afraid of gliding hypersonic weapons that ride the wave? There are three main advantages: long range, easy integration, and difficult interception. First of all, the gliding warhead, which is commonly known as the "water drifting bomb", its main difficulty is in the flying body, and its carrier is generally a ballistic missile, so its range generally reaches more than 2,000 kilometers.
Second, during the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union signed an intermediate-range missile treaty, which greatly limited the development of intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is not within the limits, and after decades of development, it has extended a huge family of ballistic missiles, which means that the integration of hypersonic flying bodies is easier, and some eligible ballistic missiles can be easily transformed into hypersonic missiles.
Finally, the characteristics of gliding missiles make their trajectory unpredictable and difficult to intercept. This makes it difficult for traditional missile defense systems to defend, for example, the maximum speed of missiles in traditional air defense systems is generally only Mach 2 to 4, and even if it can effectively lock on to hypersonic warheads, gliding warheads above Mach 10 greatly compress the interception window, so that the coverage area of the defense system is sharply compressed.
The United States and Japan spent $3 billion to jointly develop new equipment, which requires China to be more vigilant! After all, it will not be until 2030 at the earliest, and it will take at least five years to delay the initial deployment of the equipment itself. More than ten years have been enough for the PLA to fully popularize hypersonic weapons, and it would be a big mistake for the United States and Japan to vainly hope that they can sit back and relax with their hypersonic weapon defense systems. What China needs to be wary of is that the United States will fully arm Japan, which will lead to a change in the world pattern.
After the end of World War II, Japan, as an Axis power and at the same time the defeated side of the war, suffered severe sanctions, one of which was that Japan was only allowed to develop self-defense armed forces, and could not obtain offensive weapons and equipment. Although since the 90s, the United States has gradually sent high-tech weapons and equipment to Japan, such as the "Kongo"-class Aegis warships equipped by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. Although it brought great pressure to the PLA at that time, it barely broke through the boundary.
However, in recent years, Japan has gradually broken through the shackles of not being able to equip itself with offensive weaponry. Back in 2022, the Japanese media announced that their authorities planned to equip them with 1000 long-range cruise missiles. It is known that the cruise missile was developed on the basis of Japan's existing Type 12 shore-based anti-ship missile. However, judging from the pictures published by the Japanese media, the overall design of the cruise missile has completely departed from the Type 12 anti-ship missile, but it is very similar to the JASSM cruise missile currently equipped by the US military. Japan has announced that the range of the new cruise missile is about 1,000 kilometers, which is comparable to the range of JASSM's extended-range model, the JASSM-ER. It can be seen from this that the United States and Japan have deep technological ties in the research and development of Japan's advanced weapons and equipment.
Combined with Japan's announcement to join the "AUKUS," it is not difficult to imagine that if the United States chooses to arm Japan, then Japan will inevitably become the vanguard of US interests in the Asia-Pacific region. As China and the United States try to avoid a head-on conflict, Japan may play the role of Ukraine and become the "spokesperson" of the United States. In peacetime, such a role has always been a "thorn in the flesh" for China.