Japanese Navy (JMSDF) : Updates and Discussions

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Tokyo (CNN)Japan is poised to put its first aircraft carriers to sea since World War II, refitting its Izumo-class warships to carry US-designed F-35B fighter jets, the government announced Tuesday.

In its 10-year Defense Program Guidelines, Tokyo said it will buy 42 of the stealthy F-35Bs, which are designed for short-run take offs and vertical landings.

Those planes will be available for deployment aboard two flat-top ships, the JS Izumo and JS Kaga, which at more than 800 feet long and displacing 27,000 tons are the largest ships in the Japanese fleet.

"Under the drastically changing security environment around Japan, the government will take all possible measures to protect the lives and assets of Japanese people," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday in announcing the plan.

"The review of the new defense guideline is extremely meaningful to show the Japanese people and the world what is truly necessary in our defense to protect the people and to serve as the cornerstone of the future (for the Japan Self-Defense Forces)."

The new guidelines listed China, North Korea and Russia, as well as the United States and NATO, as entities with massive military capabilities with which Japan must concern itself.

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Japan's Air Self-Defense Forces' new F-35A jet fighter arrives at Misawa Air Base on the northern end of the main island of Honshu in January.

The Izumo and Kaga have been carrying helicopters designed for anti-submarine warfare since entering service over the past three years. They will need to have their decks reinforced to accommodate the heavier F-35Bs, as well as the heat and force from the jets' thrusters when they land vertically.

Japan will also increase its order for F-35A jets, which take off and land on conventional runways, to 105, the government said. Forty-two of those jets are in service or were part of earlier Japanese orders. Those planes will replace the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's aging F-15J fighters.

The purchases will be spread over 10 years, with 27 of the F-35As and 18 of the F-35Bs to be acquired, as well as the two warships to be refitted, in the first five years.

Total spending over the first five years is pegged at $282.4 billion and will include creating cyber defense and naval transportation units that operate across Japan's three military branches, the Ground, Air and Maritime Self-Defense Forces.

An eye on China
Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, said the new aircraft carriers would give Tokyo the ability to mount territory defenses farther out from its main islands.

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Japan's JS Izumo steams with a US Navy destroyer in the South China Sea in 2017.

It comes after a Japanese defense white paper in August highlighted concerns about China.

"China's rapid modernization of the People's Liberation Army, enhancement of operational capabilities, and unilateral escalation of activities in areas close to Japan are generating strong security concerns in the region and international community, including Japan," the paper said.

Analysts said Beijing would be forced to pay attention to the carrier capability.

"It further complicates the projection of Chinese military power into the southwestern maritime domain around Japan's Ryukyu islands," said Corey Wallace, an Asia security analyst at Freie University in Berlin.

However Wallace and Schuster both cautioned that the Japanese carriers are small and cannot carry many aircraft -- especially compared to the US Navy's massive 90,000-ton Nimitz-class carriers or even China's 58,000-ton Liaoning carrier.

When rumors of the Japan's carrier plans surfaced last month, China urged Tokyo to be cautious.

An article in the state-run Global Times newspaper said the refit of the Izumo-class ships, and the purchase of the F-35Bs, "essentially changes the warships' nature from a defensive to offensive one."

"Japan must not forget its infamous history of invading countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific region during WWII," it added.

At the outset of World War II, Japan fielded one of the world's largest and best fleets of aircraft carriers. It was from those that the attack on Pearl Harbor was launched.

But the fleet was decimated in the war, and the post-war constitution put strict limits on Tokyo's forces that allows them to act only in a defensive role.

A defensive plan
In announcing the spending plan Tuesday, Japan stressed it is designed to buttress those defenses.

The plan realizes the need to drastically strengthen Japan's defense and expand its role while the security environment around the country changes rapidly, the Defense Ministry said.

Choosing an expanded F-35 fleet enmeshes the Japanese Self-Defense Force with US and allied militaries around Asia, experts say.

The US, South Korea and Australia also are part of the F-35 program. The planes come with software suites which in theory allow them to communicate in real time in battle.

The US Marine Corps also operates F-35Bs off the US Navy's amphibious assault ships.

Wallace said the future could conceivably see US F-35s operating from Japanese ships and/or Japanese F-35s flying off American ones.

Buying more F-35s also helps Japan curry favor with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has publicly touted international sales of the aircraft as a victory for his administration and praised foreign leaders who have purchased them.

The main assembly point for the F-35 is Fort Worth, Texas, but the jets are also put together in Nagoya, Japan, and Italy. Japanese government officials said all the planes in the new order will be imported.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/18/asia/japan-aircraft-carriers-intl/index.html
 
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"Japan must not forget its infamous history of invading countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific region during WWII," it added.

Going by that logic, China should stop helping other countries develop, because their Great Leap by Mao is more recent.
 
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Going by that logic, China should stop helping other countries develop, because their Great Leap by Mao is more recent.
Help them develop how? You mean like their oil for loans scam on Venezuela?
 
Ballistic Missile Defense(BMD)
Japan began developing the Ballistic Missile Defense(BMD) system in FY2004 to be fully prepared for the response against ballistic missile attacks.
 To date, Japan has steadily built up its own multi-tier defense system against ballistic missile attacks, by such means as installing ballistic missile defense capability to the Aegis-equipped destroyers and deploying the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3).
Build-up and Operational Concept of BMD

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For more detailed information about our BMD, please refer to
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"2017 Defense of Japan".
(Reference to Part III Chapter 1 Section 2-3 "Response to Ballistic Missile Attacks")
Ballistic Missile Defense(BMD) | Japan Ministry of Defense
 
Japan buys Mageshima island for US$146 million to conduct military drills with US
The Japanese government has completed the 16 billion yen (US$146 million) purchase of an uninhabited island between Kyushu and Okinawa prefecture which it plans to develop into a training base for Japanese and
US military aircraft.

Mageshima is part of the Osumi Islands and hosted an important airfield for the Japanese military when defending Okinawa in the closing stages of World War II. Its planned development reflects Tokyo’s revised security doctrine and determination to protect the scattered islands off its most southern prefecture.

“It’s important to secure the site for field carrier landing practice from the viewpoint of security so we will continue to try to build a permanent facility at an early date,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Monday.

The government reached an agreement with Tokyo-based developer Taston Airport in January to buy the 8.2 sq km island for 4.5 billion yen. That deal collapsed in May when a new president of the company took over and demanded more money. The government agreed to increase its offer after taking into account the money Taston had invested.

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Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) destroyers participate in a drill. Photo: AP

The Japanese government has been seeking a suitable location for a training facility since it agreed eight years ago to provide US forces based in Japan a new site for landing practices.

US aircraft are not currently allowed to carry out flight practices at bases on mainland Japan due to noise pollution constraints. Instead, aircraft from the US airbase at Iwakuni in central Japan must fly about 1,400km south to Iwo To, better known as Iwo Jima. Mageshima is only 400km from Iwakuni, making it an ideal site.

Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda hailed the central government’s announcement as a “big step forward”.

“Building a permanent training facility is necessary to reduce worries among local people [in Iwakuni],”he said. “We’d like to ask the government to have the facility completed early.”

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A Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force P-3C patrol plane. Photo: Kyodo

As soon as the transaction is finalised, the Japanese government plans to build infrastructure for the Self-Defence Forces on the island, to be shared with US forces. Tokyo also plans to transfer some of the US troops stationed in Okinawa to the island to reduce the burden on local residents aggrieved by US military presence. Tokyo could consider relocating training for Osprey transport aircraft which have been involved in several incidents in Okinawa in recent years.

Tokyo plans to assume control of the island for its military with one eye on potential security challenges, said Garren Mulloy, a professor of international relations at Japan’s Daito Bunka University.

“This now gives Japan an increased range of options,” he said. “If the need should ever arrive for Japan to increase its capacity in the southwest, it now has the ability to do that.

“The Air Self-Defence Force urgently needs bases and runways because a lot of its facilities are already close to maximum capacity and have limited space to expand.”

Mulloy also said a new base would allow the Japanese military to no longer share facilities with civilian airlines, as it does at Okinawa’s Naha Airport.

There are hundreds of uninhabited islands off the coast of Japan, although the vast majority are small and lacking the infrastructure required to support human inhabitants. At least 40 are much larger, including the
Diaoyu Islands, located west of Okinawa. They are controlled by Japan, where they are known as the Senkakus, but mainland China and Taiwan have also staked a territorial claim to them, resulting in a long-standing dispute over their ownership.

“Japan may not need to have additional capacity now but many things could change in the next five, 10 or 20 years,” Mulloy said, with regard to the dispute over the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands.

“Japan is likely to move more and more units to its southwest as this will give it the capacity to smoothly transition to this new operational sphere.

“I do not anticipate any reaction from China as it is not as if they are doing this on one of the Senkaku islands, which would have been seen as provocative. But this does give the SDF an improved operational configuration.”

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The disputed Diaoyo/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Photo: Kyodo

Mageshima is also sufficiently remote for Japanese or US forces to carry out live fire drills with rockets, cannons or free-fall ordinance, Mulloy said, although the government has made no mention of such drills.

The government must still obtain the approval of the community of Nishinoomote, which has nominal jurisdiction over the island and owns the remaining 1 per cent of the territory. The local government has to date been “cautious” on the issue of the island being used for military training.
Japan buys island for US$146m to conduct military drills with US
 
Leaked photo: General Atomics offers possible Japenese helicopter destroyer conversion into aircraft carrier
November 29, 2019

Japan has grand ambitions to upgrade one of its largest warship into a full-fledged aircraft carrier.

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Leaked Photo: General Atomics offers possible Japanese helicopter destroyer conversion into an aircraft carrier

Pictures of a possible Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Izumo conversion into a full-fledged aircraft carrier have appeared on social media.
Japan has grand ambitions to upgrade one of its largest warship, the so-called helicopter destroyer JS Izumo, into a full-fledged aircraft carrier capable of launching the F-35C fighter jets and E-2 all-weather airborne early warning aircraft.

Izumo-class, the largest surface combatant in Japan, was put into service with the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) in March 2015. The Izumo Class destroyer ships replace the Hyuga-class destroyers, which were commissioned in March 2008. The vessels can be used for multiple purposes, including anti-submarine warfare, command-and-control operations, humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations, as well as to protect Japanese territories in the East China Sea.

According to a leaked powerpoint slide, U.S defense and diversified technologies company General Atomics offering the concept of conversion the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) helicopter destroyer JS Izumo into an aircraft carrier with the capability to launch and recover the full spectrum of carrier-capable aircraft.

General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for U.S Navy aircraft carriers.

The Navy’s costliest warship, the $13 billion Gerald R. Ford, also equipped with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System made by General Atomics. The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) installed on the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier is more efficient, smaller, lighter, more powerful, and easier to control as steam-powered catapults. Increased control means that EMALS will be able to launch heavier and lighter aircraft than the steam catapult. Also, the use of a controlled force will reduce the stress on airframes, resulting in less maintenance and a longer lifetime for the aircraft.

For JS Izumo helicopter destroyer also offering new electromagnetic catapults that provide the range of capabilities necessary to launch and recover the full spectrum of carrier-capable aircraft, including the F-35C, the world’s only 5th Generation, long-range stealth strike fighter designed and built explicitly for carrier operations.

The F-35C combines this unique capability of operating from a carrier deck with the unmatched 5th Generation capabilities of stealth, fused sensors and reliability, making the F-35C the Navy’s future first-day-of-the-war strike fighter. The F-35C variant has larger wings and more robust landing gear than the other variants, making it suitable for catapult launches and fly-in arrestments aboard naval aircraft carriers. Its wingtips also fold to allow for more room on the carrier’s deck while deployed.

The F-35C also has the greatest internal fuel capacity of the three F-35 variants. The F-35C carries nearly 20,000 pounds of internal fuel for longer range and better persistence than any other fighter in a combat configuration. And, like the F-35B, the F-35C uses probe and drogue refueling. This allows the Navy to operate its carriers a safe distance from the threat while its fighters reach remote targets.
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Source: Defence Blog
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How credible is this? Can the helicopter carriers of Japan feasibly be converted to actual carriers? I was always under the assumption that one day they could add a ramp and operate the F-35B, but a catapult system seems really outlandish. It would be better to just build a purpose built carrier from the ground up.
 
The Japanese need to change their laws if they are to operate dedicated carriers.

But once they do, they can go for 70KT or even 100KT carriers.

As an island nation, a carrier capability is most definitely required.
 
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Leaked photo: General Atomics offers possible Japenese helicopter destroyer conversion into aircraft carrier

November 29, 2019​


Japan has grand ambitions to upgrade one of its largest warship into a full-fledged aircraft carrier.


2606874_original-scaled.jpg

Leaked Photo: General Atomics offers possible Japanese helicopter destroyer conversion into an aircraft carrier

Pictures of a possible Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Izumo conversion into a full-fledged aircraft carrier have appeared on social media.
Japan has grand ambitions to upgrade one of its largest warship, the so-called helicopter destroyer JS Izumo, into a full-fledged aircraft carrier capable of launching the F-35C fighter jets and E-2 all-weather airborne early warning aircraft.

Izumo-class, the largest surface combatant in Japan, was put into service with the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) in March 2015. The Izumo Class destroyer ships replace the Hyuga-class destroyers, which were commissioned in March 2008. The vessels can be used for multiple purposes, including anti-submarine warfare, command-and-control operations, humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations, as well as to protect Japanese territories in the East China Sea.

According to a leaked powerpoint slide, U.S defense and diversified technologies company General Atomics offering the concept of conversion the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) helicopter destroyer JS Izumo into an aircraft carrier with the capability to launch and recover the full spectrum of carrier-capable aircraft.

General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for U.S Navy aircraft carriers.

The Navy’s costliest warship, the $13 billion Gerald R. Ford, also equipped with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System made by General Atomics. The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) installed on the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier is more efficient, smaller, lighter, more powerful, and easier to control as steam-powered catapults. Increased control means that EMALS will be able to launch heavier and lighter aircraft than the steam catapult. Also, the use of a controlled force will reduce the stress on airframes, resulting in less maintenance and a longer lifetime for the aircraft.

For JS Izumo helicopter destroyer also offering new electromagnetic catapults that provide the range of capabilities necessary to launch and recover the full spectrum of carrier-capable aircraft, including the F-35C, the world’s only 5th Generation, long-range stealth strike fighter designed and built explicitly for carrier operations.

The F-35C combines this unique capability of operating from a carrier deck with the unmatched 5th Generation capabilities of stealth, fused sensors and reliability, making the F-35C the Navy’s future first-day-of-the-war strike fighter. The F-35C variant has larger wings and more robust landing gear than the other variants, making it suitable for catapult launches and fly-in arrestments aboard naval aircraft carriers. Its wingtips also fold to allow for more room on the carrier’s deck while deployed.

The F-35C also has the greatest internal fuel capacity of the three F-35 variants. The F-35C carries nearly 20,000 pounds of internal fuel for longer range and better persistence than any other fighter in a combat configuration. And, like the F-35B, the F-35C uses probe and drogue refueling. This allows the Navy to operate its carriers a safe distance from the threat while its fighters reach remote targets.
=================================================
Source: Defence Blog
=================================================

How credible is this? Can the helicopter carriers of Japan feasibly be converted to actual carriers? I was always under the assumption that one day they could add a ramp and operate the F-35B, but a catapult system seems really outlandish. It would be better to just build a purpose built carrier from the ground up.
No, Japan Isn't Going To Install Catapults And Angled Decks On Its Izumo Class Carriers
 
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In Japan, tests began on an aircraft version of Type 12 anti-ship missile. Japan is expanding the capabilities of its fleet to protect territorial waters. a Kawasaki P-1 patrol aircraft equipped with 4 modernized air-launched RCCs made its 1st test flight from Atsugi AFB, Japan.

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Japan’s ATLA Developing Hypersonic Anti-Ship Missile
Development work of this new missile began in 2019 and is set to be completed in the 2030s. ATLA is currently in the development phase of the scramjet engine along with local company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries which won a contract for the prototype engine research.

The missile aims to be powered by a Dual-Mode Scramjet engine (DMSJ), a combination of ramjet and scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engines, to fly at a wide range of speeds, including hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 or higher.
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This ATLA research aims to realize a scram-jet engine that enables hypersonic cruise of a missile using jet fuel, and to develop advanced component technologies for long-time operation of the scram-jet engine. ATLA image translated by Naval News.

Ramjet + Scramjet propulsion
The scramjet engine is expected to have high engine efficiency in a wide range of speeds, from Mach 5 to 15, because the air inhaled from the intake is compressed and combusted at supersonic speed when the missile flying at Mach 5 or higher. That means that the scramjet engine would need to be accelerated the missile to hypersonic speeds to operate, and that would require acceleration by a rocket booster. However, a large rocket booster would be required to accelerate to hypersonic speeds, which would increase the overall length of the missile, including the booster.

Therefore, ATLA planned to combine the capabilities of the ramjet engine, which operates efficiently in the Mach 3 to 5 speed range(supersonic speed), with the scramjet engine (DMSJ) to reduce the proportion of the rocket booster. In this way, the rocket booster only needs to accelerate the missile to supersonic speed, and from there, the ramjet engine accelerates the missile to hypersonic speed, which then activates the scramjet engine to cruise.

ATLA is now working with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to realize the DMSJ:

Japans-ATLA-Developing-Hypersonic-Anti-Ship-Missile-jaxa-1024x570.jpg


A “game changer”
According to the ATLA, the hypersonic guided missile can cruise at high altitudes at hypersonic speeds while maneuvering, making it difficult for enemy air defense systems to intercept it. This is because the missile flies at an altitude higher than that of a typical lower level air defense system and lower than that of an upper level air defense system, and further altering the flight route makes it difficult to predict the point of intercept, making it difficult for existing air defense systems to respond it. That’s why ATLA calls the missile a “game changer”.

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Hypersonic flight path (example). ATLA image.

According to documents released by ATLA, the combined guidance system of satellite and inertial navigation will be used to guide the hypersonic guided missile. In addition, radio and lightwave image seekers will be used to identify targets, and this missile will be capable of all-weather operations. The missile is expected to be capable of carrying a penetrating warhead to destroy the flight decks of enemy aircraft carriers and a high-density Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP) warhead to suppress enemies on the ground.


JSM, LRASM & ASM-3 anti-ship missiles for JASDF

Two X-ASM-3 aboard a JASDF F-2 fighter

The hypersonic guided missile is ground-launched, but under current plans, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) will deploy three different types of modern anti-ship missiles:

Advantages of fielding various anti-ship missile types
The main reason why the JSDF deploys multiple types of anti-ship missiles is to ensure that the combination of the characteristics of each missile can break through enemy air defense systems. For example, the JSM has the advantage of being hard to detect by enemy radar through sea skimming, but its range is not very long. Also, the LRASM has a long range of about 800 km, but its flight speed is not as fast as subsonic speed. In addition, ASM-3ER will break through the enemy’s air defense system at the speed of about Mach 3, but still the range does not reach far to the LRASM of subsonic speed. However, if they are operated in combination, the enemy will have to deal with each missile with different characteristics, which will place a heavy load on their air defense systems. If a hypersonic guided missile, which flies at high altitude at high speed, is added to this, the probability of the missile hitting an enemy ship becomes extremely high.

It can be said that the JSDF is steadily advancing its countermeasures with the future development of the PLAN in mind.
 
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Japan launches its first Taigei-Class Diesel/Electric attack submarine for Japanese Navy​

According to a Tweet released by the Japanese MoD (Ministry of Defense) on October 13, 2020, the Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi has attended the official ceremony for the launching of the first Taigei-Class Diesel/Electric propulsion attack submarine at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) shipyard.
Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001
The new Japanese navy Taigei-class submarine. (Picture source Twitter account Japan Maritime Self-Defence Forces)


The Taigei-class submarines (29SS) is a new class of Diesel/Electric attack submarines developed for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). It's the successor to the Sōryū-class submarine.

The design of the Taigei-Class submarine is very similar to the Sōryū-class submarine, but it will be 100 tons heavier than its predecessor. It is planned that the new submarine will entered in service with the Japanese Navy in March 2022. The Taigei will be the first in the new Taigei class category following by the Oyashio and Soryu.

Japanese Navy currently operates nine 2,750 ton Oyashio class submarines and 11 2,950 ton Soryu class submarines and is planning to introduce a 12th Soryu class submarine next year.

The Taigei-Class submarine has a length of 84,0 m, a beam of 9.1 m, and a draught of 10.4m. It has a displacement of 3,000 tons. This new submarine is powered by a Diesel/Electric propulsion using Lithium-Ion batteries. The armament consists of six HU-606 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes able to launch Type 89 torpedo and Harpoon anti-ship missile.

The Type 89 is a Japanese submarine-launched homing torpedo produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It is a wire-guided torpedo that features both active and passive homing modes fitted with a warhead of 295 kg.

The A/U/RGM-84 Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system. The Harpoon's active radar guidance, warhead design, low-level cruise trajectory, and terminal mode sea-skim or pop-up maneuvers assure high survivability and effectiveness. The missile is capable of being launched from surface ships, submarines, shore batteries, or aircraft (without the booster). It has a maximum range of 124 km.