fsBy Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
(Washington D.C.) The US and Japanese Navies are taking new steps to solidify at-sea ballistic missile defense networking, integration and target-data connectivity in an effort which could be viewed as new attempts to deter Chinese aggression in the Pacific.
Resilient Shield
Both US and Japanese warships are already equipped with an integrated missile defense and fire control system called Aegis Combat System, a suite of technologies including software, radar and the ability to launch interceptor missiles to intercept or “destroy” attacking ballistic missiles. This latest development involved a week-long annual exercise focused on US-Japanese ballistic missile defense in the Pacific called Resilient Shield. Although the US Navy and Japanese Maritime Defense Force have been allied for many years, as Japan is among the group of allied countries with the Aegis Combat System, these latest exercises both demonstrate new technological capacity and come at critical time.
“This exercise allowed us to conduct simulation training on ballistic missile countermeasures and air defense to improve tactical capabilities for comprehensive air defense missile defense and interoperability with the U.S. Navy,” said Commander, JMSDF Fleet Vice Adm. SAITO Akira, according to a US Navy report on the exercise. “Based on the strong Japan-U.S. alliance, the U.S. and Japan self-defense forces work closely together on a regular basis to strengthen deterrence and response capabilities in order to respond immediately to any contingency.”
The idea with Resilient Shield is to prepare an allied force to identify targets, process threat data and quickly and security transmit time-sensitive targeting data, a vastly improved process which enables forward positioned US and Japanese ships to disperse across wide swaths of ocean yet maintain connectivity to create a “mesh” network of maritime ballistic missile defense nodes.
The need for wide-area, networked ballistic missile defense is fast-becoming more urgent in the Pacific given the massive and fast-modernizing arsenal of ballistic missiles and anti-ship missiles. Specifically, a surprise attack on Taiwan from China would likely begin with a salvo of ballistic missiles targeting key targets on the island, given that large numbers of Chinese weapons can easily travel the 100 miles to Taiwan from mainland China. China not only has mobile launchers but also operates long-range, precision-guided anti-ship missiles such as the DF-26, a weapon often tested by the Chinese with a reported range of 2,000 miles.
Maritime ballistic missile defense, such as that demonstrated by the US Navy and Japan, could prove critical in this kind of scenario as Aegis radar could see approaching ballistic missiles, and launch SM-3 and SM-6 interceptors to knock them out from safer stand-off distances, protecting Taiwan and Navy and Japanese ships.
In fact, upgraded SM-3 Block IIA ship-launched interceptor missiles, a program which is developing through a US Navy-Japan weapons development partnership, is more precise, larger and longer-range than previous interceptors. This improvement is quite significant because, for the first time, US Navy Aegis ships have in recent years demonstrated an ability to detect and intercept enemy ICBMs from the ocean just beyond the boundary of the earth’s atmosphere. This is a massive development as sea-based advanced BMD offers a new “node” or layer of ICBM defenses work in tandem with satellites, Ground-Based Interceptors, ground command and control and missile warning systems.
These kinds of ship defenses are increasingly being networked by the Navy, in part through its Block 10 Aegis Combat System which integrates ballistic missiles defense and air and cruise missile defense on a single system. In recent years, the Navy has integrated a “tech insertion” software upgrade for Aegis Block 10 to improve ballistic missile defense capabilities. These enhancements likely include advance threat detection, guidance and range technologies.
Most recently, the Navy is fast-adding a comprehensive, elaborate and scaled “laser” weapons system to its fleet, less expensive weapons which not only travel quietly at the speed of light, but cost less money and can be scaled to either disrupt, damage or fully incinerate an incoming ballistic missile.
Resilient Shield is also quite significant given the history of US-Japanese weapons development collaboration, which have included joint production and design efforts with the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block II, X-Band radar, SM-3 modernization and of course Aegis radar. A new and potentially paradigm-changing element of this is Japan’s large-scale defense budget increase to counter a growing Chinese threat, moves which have in recent years included a massive multi-billion-dollar F-35 buy. Given the F-35s ability to network quickly and security with its Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL), Japanese F-35s will not only massively project power for the JMSDF but also enable new levels of US-Japanese air-to-air and air-to-surface “mesh” network
The success of Resilient Shield, as identified in the Navy report, comes at an increasingly critical time given the apparent escalation of China’s more aggressive military posturing with war drills near Taiwan and activities such as its Spy Balloon over the US. With Chinese threats, there are both near and long term concerns, given that the already in existence Chinese DF-26 “carrier killer” missile can reportedly reach ranges of 2,000 miles. The precise guidance systems of these weapons may not be known, and their potential ability to track and hit moving targets is likely to be of great significance to the threat equation posed to the Navy.
Japan’s newly Defense Report 2022 outlines a new defense budget strategy called the “Defense Strengthening Acceleration Package.” The text of the Japanese document explains that the country’s 2022 budget plan is $55.3 billion yen larger from the previous years.
“Japan’s defense expenditures have set a record for ten consecutive years,” Japan’s 2022 Defense Report states.
There is an interesting provision within the budget which
allows for even more budget dollars to be allocated if they are related to what the Defense Report called the “realignment of US forces” with Japan. This is quite significant as there has been successful weapons development collaboration between the US and Japan for many years which has generated substantial results.
“In order to secure technological superiority, Japan has decided to significantly increase investment in potentially game-changing technologies, and has increased R&D expenditure to a record high,” the Japanese 2022 Defense Report says.
Japan‘s F-35 buy is also breaking new ground launching its vertical-take-off and landing F-35B variant from its JS “Izumo” destroyer, marking a breakthrough development in the realm of 5th-generation amphibious attack.
While the US has of course been operating F-35Bs from amphibious assault ships for many years now, the ability for Japan to support, supplement and network with US Marine Corps and Navy amphibious forces by adding 5th-gen air support to multi-domain operations massively multiplies capability.
The F-35B launch from the Japanese destroyer was cited in Japan’s recently released Defense Report 2022 outlining a wide range of new initiatives aimed at strengthening their military and allied cooperation.
“Japan and the United States are conducting Japan-U.S. bilateral activities, such as defense equipment and technology cooperation, expansion of joint/shared use of U.S. and Japanese facilities and areas, and during this fiscal year, verification of F-35B take-off and landing to the MSDF’s destroyer JS “Izumo,” the Japanese report states.
Given this development, it certainly seems feasible that both US and Japanese vertical launch F-35s operated during Resilient Shield.
Missile Threat
China’s fast-expanding arsenal of missiles involves a large-scale increase in the size of its mission capability, according to a Defense Department report on China that was published in 2021.
“In 2020, the PLARF launched more than 250 ballistic missiles for testing and training,” according to the report, titled Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China. “This was more than the rest of the world combined.” Added to the Chinese ballistic missile defense is the relative danger to the United States Posed by China’s Dong-Feng 17, which is equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle. This and other Congressional and Pentagon reports identify many recent advancements that have been made by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF).
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As far back as several years ago, US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told Congress that the service has been taking specific steps to address the growing Chinese missile threat, citing progress arming the now emerging DDG Flight III Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers. These ships are engineered with a paradigm-changing AN/SPY-1 radar system 35-times more sensitive and powerful than existing radars. The radar, now being integrated onto Navy ships, can detect threat objects half the size at twice the distance, a technology which greatly changes the equation for ship commanders hoping to find and intercept or destroy incoming enemy attacks.
While these developments exacerbate existing problems, their relative danger to the United States may collectively be less significant than the threat posed by China’s Dong-Feng 17, which is equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle. Overall, China’s fast-expanding arsenal of missiles involves a large-scale increase in the size of its mission, according to a Defense Department report on China that was published earlier this year. The department has flagged recent advancements that have been made by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF).
“In 2020, the PLARF launched more than 250 ballistic missiles for testing and training,” according to the 2021 report, titled Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China. “This was more than the rest of the world combined.”
While the Chinese Carrier-Killer missiles and the PRC ballistic missile arsensal have generated much attention, yet there is much to be said for the substantial progress the US Navy has been making in recent years to strengthen its layered ship defenses infrastructure. Some have projected that these Chinese weapons will force the US Navy to operate its carriers from as far as 2,000 miles off shore, making it difficult to project power ashore without substantial aerial tanker support.
In recent years Navy leaders have also been clear that the service will project power and operate its carriers from wherever it needs to in the coming years. While many specifics are likely not available due to security reasons, Navy weapons developers and industry partners have spoken at length about the massively improving layered ship defense infrastructure and technological capacity. Ship defense is thought of in terms of “tiers” or “layers,” meaning certain sensors, radar systems and interceptors are designed to detect and destroy long-range incoming threats such as ballistic missiles.
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For these short, intermediate and long-range ballistic missile threats, the Navy operates its Aegis Combat System in coordination with its SM-3 interceptor to develop a radar track on an incoming weapon and blast it out of the sky with a guided interceptor. Mid-tier defenses involve weapons such as the SM-6, which can use dual-mode seekers to send a forward-ping from the missile itself and adjust to destroy an incoming moving target from closer in range. On the kinetic side, there are a wide range of additional interceptors developed for mid-to-short range defenses to destroy enemy drones, helicopters and even fast-approaching swarming small attack boats. These weapons include the SeaRAM, Rolling Airframe Missile and the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block II which has a sea-skimming intercept mode to track and destroy approaching cruise missiles.
For the closest in threats, the Navy operates its now upgraded Close in Weapons System (CWIS) which uses an area weapon called a Phalanx to fire out hundreds of projectiles per second to destroy approach surface threats such as small boats as well as incoming air threats such as drones or missiles.
Ship defenses such as this, however, while increasingly layered, robust and networked, are now quickly being reinforced by a growing range of what are called non-kinetic ship defenses of equal or even greater defensive value. For example, electronic warfare technologies can sense and “jam
” the electronic guidance systems of incoming precision weapons to throw them off course or disable them.
Given this, there is also reason to recognize that the Navy’s sophisticated and improving ship-defenses may well be evolving at an alarming pace as well, a phenomenon which bears prominently on the concerning Chinese threat equation. There are many variables when it comes to these kinds of threats, as well as many unknowns, and ship-based defenses are of particular relevance and value in the Pacific because there are fewer land-locations from which to operate or fire interceptors.
For this reason, there will likely be continued debate and ongoing deliberation when it comes to improving ship defenses, a key part of which can simply be described as networking. The more multi-domain connectivity that is enabled, the greater the ability to see, track and destroy approaching enemy attacks. For instance, the Navy’s now deployed Naval Integrated Fire Control – Counter Air program was a breakthrough innovation some years ago. NIFC-CA now arms Navy destroyers with a greatly expanded capacity to see and destroy approaching enemy weapons such as anti-ship cruise missiles from beyond the horizon.
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The concept is one of networking, as NIFC-CA connects ship-based radar and communication systems with an “aerial sensor” node strategically positioned to sense “beyond the horizon.” The aerial “node” platform began as an E2D Hawkeye but has since been proven with an F-35 and may incorporate additional systems in the future such as drones. The aerial node, detecting approaching threats, sends data to ship-based command and control in position to launch an SM-6 interceptor to destroy the threat at much greater standoff distances.
This means ship-commanders have much more time with which to decide how to counterattack or choose the optimal ship defense system. NIFC-CA has been deployed on ships since as far back as 2015, and likely continues to be refined. The ability to hit incoming maneuvering threats is a key element of this, given that the SM-6 operates with a “dual mode” seeker capable of sending a forward radar “ping” from the ship itself, without need to rely on a ship-based illuminator. This enables the SM-6 to maneuver in flight to adjust to moving targets and greatly increase the operational envelope for ship defenses.
Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
