【Text by Observer Net, Shanmao】
There has been a new development in the construction of Japan's new anti-missile ship. According to the "Naval News" website on July 7, the U.S. company Lockheed Martin delivered the first set of shipborne equipment for the "Aegis System Equipped Vessel" (Japanese: イージス・システム搭載艦, English Aegis System Equipped Vessel, abbreviated ASEV) to the Japanese Ministry of Defense. This includes a radar system composed of four AN/SPY-7(V)1 active phased array antennas.
In an official news release from Lockheed Martin, it stated that after strict acceptance testing, the equipment was delivered by Mitsubishi according to a direct commercial sales model. Chandra Marshall, vice president of Lockheed Martin responsible for multi-domain combat solutions, said that this radar antenna system underwent comprehensive system integration and testing at the production test center in Morristown, New Jersey, and was then delivered to reduce integration risks and ensure "on-schedule commissioning".
The AN/SPY-7(V)1 radar antenna arrays being delivered to Japan are being hoisted in the testing facility. Lockheed Martin
In 2017, Japan decided to introduce two "Ground-based Aegis" systems from the United States to "respond to the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles". In 2018, it was determined to deploy them in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, managed and operated by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The AN/SPY-7 radar developed by Lockheed Martin was selected instead of the older AN/SPY-1 or the AN/SPY-6 developed by Raytheon for the Flight III批次 of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. However, following a series of issues including site selection and booster drop zones, in June 2020, then Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono announced the suspension of the construction and deployment of the two "Ground-based Aegis" facilities.
(Photo: The U.S. Army's "Ground-based Aegis" facility at Deveselu Military Base (99th Military Base) in Romania is the first operational facility of its kind, equipped with the AN/SPY-1D(V) passive phased array radar and 48-cell Mk41 vertical launchers. U.S. Navy
Due to the continued need for missile interception, on the other hand, the U.S. side stated that the payment for the key components of the "Ground-based Aegis" purchased by Japan, including the radar, would not be refunded. Therefore, Japan had to consider maritime alternatives to make full use of the already purchased "Ground-based Aegis" key components, including but not limited to deployment on offshore drilling platforms, modified civilian cargo ships, and maritime self-defense force vessels. Eventually, in late 2020, Japan decided to build two new maritime self-defense force vessels, installing the already purchased "Ground-based Aegis" subsystems, operated by the maritime self-defense force to carry out missile defense tasks, independent in structure from the existing surface combat forces of the maritime self-defense force, the "护卫队群". In short, after these changes, the "Aegis System Equipped Vessel" is essentially a rather absurd "maritime ground-based Aegis".
At that time, NHK reported several alternative options proposed by the Ministry of Defense: the vessel-mounted option was divided into an integrated scheme for building a vessel with the complete system and a split scheme where the radar was set on land, the existing vessels were modified to launch interceptors, and data link communication was ensured by the E2D early warning aircraft; the offshore oil platform option was also divided into a fully fixed platform scheme and a mobile floating platform scheme.
In the 2023 fiscal year budget request document released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense at the end of 2022, the first funding of 22.08 billion yen for the construction of the "Aegis System Equipped Vessel" was officially included. It is planned to commission one "Aegis System Equipped Vessel" at the end of the 2027 fiscal year and another at the end of the 2028 fiscal year. In 2023, contracts for the hull, propulsion system, and detailed design were formally signed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (responsible for building the first ship) and Japan Marine United Corporation JMU (responsible for building the second ship). In the initial design, the displacement of these two "Aegis System Equipped Vessels" once exceeded 20,000 tons, hence they were called "Reiwa Yamato" by the public. Finally, the final plan was modified to about 190 meters long, 25 meters wide, and a standard displacement of 12,000 tons, significantly larger than the current "Aegis" air defense missile destroyers' 8,000+ tons. However, according to the current dynamics on the Japanese internet, despite the fact that the delivery of the first ship is less than two and a half years away, there have been no confirmed ship sections visible in the Nagasaki Shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries responsible for building the first ship.
Official version of the "Aegis System Equipped Vessel" rendering image. Japanese Ministry of Defense
The AN/SPY-7 active phased array radar is derived from the Lockheed Martin "Long Range Radar" (LRDR) deployed in Alaska. Its land-based mobile version, AN/TPY-6, was selected by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) as part of the construction of the Guam missile defense system. The SPY-7 delivered this time is the first set of radar used on a maritime vessel. In addition to the two Japanese "Aegis System Equipped Vessels", future Canadian "River" class destroyers (a derivative of the British 26-class destroyers) and Spanish F-110 frigates will also install the SPY-7 series radar.
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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7525013569029685795/
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