The first of Japan’s two new Maya-class air defense destroyers was launched on 30 July under the 27DDG program. Optimized for air and missile defense, the Maya will be equipped with an Aegis baseline J7 combat system, Japan’s equivalent to the U.S. Navy’s Aegis baseline 9/BMD 5.1 standard. The new destroyer is expected to be the first Japanese warship to incorporate cooperative engagement capability, a sensor-netting system that permits multiple platforms and aircraft to form an integrated air and missile defense network by sharing real-time target data. The 577-foot Maya-class guided-missile destroyers are follow-on vessels based on the earlier Atago-class. Displacing 8,200 tons standard and more than 10,000 tons fully loaded, the Maya is expected to join the fleet in 2020 and will be followed by an as-yet-unnamed sister in 2021. Both ships will likely be fitted with SM-3 Block IIA and SM-6 surface-to-air missiles, enabling defense against both air-breathing and ballistic-missile threats.
New Zealand recently joined the growing list of U.S. allies to purchase P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. In July, the country announced plans to acquire four P-8s as replacements for its fleet of six P-3K2 Orions, which dates to the 1960s. New Zealand’s P-8s will be tasked with surface and subsurface surveillance and other military missions, disaster response, border and fisheries protection, and search-and-rescue duties. New Zealand’s search-and-rescue region covers 1/11th of the earth’s surface and stretches from the South Pole to near the Equator. Based on a modified Boeing 737 commercial airliner design, the P-8A has a length of 130 feet and a 124-foot wingspan. It carries a crew of nine and has a 1,200-mile mission radius with four hours on-station. P-8s also are in service or on order with the militaries of Australia, India, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Deliveries are set to begin to the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 2023.
Sea Ceptor, the British Royal Navy’s newest surface-to-air missile system, officially entered service this past May. The new weapon employs the common antiair modular missile (CAM-M), which can be carried as quad packs in shipboard vertical launch system cells. The missile is fitted with an all-weather active radio frequency seeker and boasts 360-degree coverage, a high fire rate against multiple simultaneous targets, and an ability to intercept the full range of current and future combat aircraft, next-generation supersonic antiship missiles, and small naval craft. With supersonic speeds and a range in excess of 15 miles, the weapon is expected to arm future Type 26 frigates and to replace the Seawolf vertical launch SAM system onboard current Type 23 warships. In addition to the United Kingdom, Sea Ceptor variants have been selected to arm warships in Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, and Spain, and its acquisition is under consideration by additional navies around the world.
Mr. Wertheim, a defense consultant in the Washington, D.C., area, is the author of the 16th edition of The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, available from the Naval Institute Press (www.usni.org).