Not only does the Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA feature stunning maneuverability. As this interesting infographic shows, the fifth generation stealth multi-role combat plane will carry a wide variety of weapons, including air-to-air, air-to-surface and anti-ship missiles.
Among those that the PAK FA will be able to carry (internally or externally – hence “stealthy” or not), there are: the Izdelie 810, a derivative of the R-37M designed to kill High Value Targets and AWACS at a distance of 400 km; the K-77M air-to-air missile fitted with an AESA seeker; the KH-35UE anti-ship cruise missile; the KH-58UShKE stand-off anti-radiation missile; the Brahmos-NG supersonic cruise missile produced with India; and the KAB bombs.
A Hornet performs an airborne pickup of a Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile and guides it into a moving ship target.
On Jan. 27, a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) was tested against a moving target at sea off San Nicolas Island, California.
What is more, the TLAM was launched from a ship and guided into its target by an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
A video of the test was published by USNI News. It shows the missile launched from guided missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG-100) and picked up by the aircraft, fly at low altitude towards the target chased by the Super Hornet and punch a hole through a container on a ship (scaring some pigeons away).
The Tomahawk IV can hit at a range of 1,000 miles and can adjust its flight path to pursuit moving targets. Guidance will eventually come from various platforms, including ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) aircraft and, most probably, drones.
Accoring to USNI News, the new Tomahawk variant could serve as a gap filler until the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LARSM), the navalized version based on the JASSM-ER, will be able to support the Navy’s “distributed lethality” warfare strategy.
On Jun. 24, a P-8A Poseidon from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 20 successfully fired a Harpoon AGM-84D Block IC missile at the Navy’s Point Mugu Sea Test Range in California and scored a direct hit on a Low Cost Modular Target.
The following image shows the target before and after the hit by “one of the U.S. Navy’s most dependable over-the-horizon all-weather anti-ship missiles, the Harpoon Block IC.”
As reported by various media outlets, on May 19 and 20 the North Koreans launched four short range (120 km) missiles. Two launches were fired on Saturday morning, another one in the afternoon, and the last one was reported on Sunday afternoon.
According to the Yonhap News agency, the last one was a short range guided missile launched from North Korean east coast that fell into the Sea of Japan. The analysts wonder whether it was a modernized anti-ship missile launched from a coast launching pad or tactical KN-02 missile.
Some analysts speculate the last firing activity may only be a part of an attempt to calm down the Western intelligence before a proper attack that may happen anytime soon.
Even though the media attention is not focused on NK anymore, things still happen there, requiring a close watch.
Even if it can be carried on the external wing pylon (as the fit check proved) the new missile, developed in partnership with the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, and in close cooperation with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, is the only powered anti-ship missile that will fit inside the F-35’s weapons bays.
In fact, even if it can be useful to carry four such missiles (2 in the internal bays, 2 on the external pylons) an F-35 carrying the JSM on the underwing pylons would lose much of its stealthiness.
Derived from the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), the anti-ship weapon, featuring long range, low radar cross section and high maneuverability, speed and accuracy, will undergo a Critical Design Review in summer 2013: the CDR will confirm whether the design is mature enough to be able to continue the integration on the F-35.
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