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NewsTranscript
00:01The Ukrainian military has an uncanny ability to take weapons that the rest of the world would call old, outdated
00:07or even worthless,
00:09make a few simple changes and transform them into valuable weapons of war.
00:13We've seen them do it with fighter jets, howitzers and even anti-aircraft guns.
00:18And now they've done it again, this time with a helicopter.
00:21A Soviet-era helicopter to be exact, which has been magically transformed into a flying aircraft carrier by Ukraine's extraordinary
00:30engineers.
00:31To understand the enormity of this feat, it's important to first understand what Ukraine was working with when it started
00:37out.
00:38Introducing the MIL-MI-8, a family of medium twin turbine helicopters,
00:44originally designed by the MIL Design Bureau OKB-329 in the early 1960s,
00:49and officially introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968.
00:54The design was the brainchild of Mikhail Mil himself,
00:58a Soviet and Russian aerospace engineer and founder of the MIL Moscow helicopter plant.
01:04It already created the successful MIL-MI-4 and MIL-MI-6,
01:08and he wanted to take the next step in military helicopter development with a two-engine turbine helicopter,
01:14but came up against stern resistance from Soviet military officials,
01:18who argued that the MI-4 was perfectly sufficient for their needs.
01:22Not willing to accept defeat,
01:24Mil argued that his new design was more of an update than a brand-new creation.
01:28His tactic worked.
01:30The Council of Ministers decided to support production of the MI-8,
01:33and the first prototype, nicknamed the V-8, rolled off production lines in 1958.
01:38It was like a MI-4 with just one engine, but with a larger cabin than its predecessor,
01:44and it was proudly shown off at the Soviet Aviation Day parade of July 1961.
01:50In the meantime, Nikita Khrushchev had visited the United States on official business,
01:55and experienced the luxury of the presidential S-58 helicopter.
02:00Upon returning to the Soviet Union, he ordered that a similar helicopter be created as quickly as possible.
02:05Mil took advantage of this opportunity to persuade Khrushchev that his twin-engine MI-8 design would be perfect for
02:12the job.
02:13Having gained the approval of the chairman of the Council of Ministers,
02:16Mil was allowed to bring his true vision to life at last.
02:19For the first time in Soviet history, purpose-built engines had to be specially crafted for a new military helicopter,
02:26rather than simply being adapted from existing fixed-wing aircraft.
02:29A new main rotor gearbox was also designed especially for the MI-8 in another Soviet first,
02:35and after several different prototypes, the design was officially complete.
02:39And when the Soviet military saw how valuable the American Bell UH-1 helicopter was in the Vietnam War for
02:46moving troops in and out of battlefield areas,
02:49it invested heavily in Mikhail Mil's design.
02:51Thus began the long and storied military history of the MI-8,
02:56which has been improved and updated many times over the years,
02:59and is still being produced to this day,
03:02making it the world's most produced helicopter of all time.
03:05Now, quick side note before we dig a little deeper into the MI-8.
03:09Along with our regular reporting,
03:11the military show also offers exclusive video insights and analysis just for members.
03:16Join the channel today to unlock instant access.
03:18Over the years, the MI-8 became a stalwart of the Soviet military.
03:24Large numbers of these helicopters were used in the Soviet-Afghan War of the 1980s, for example,
03:29and many were seen dropping radiation-absorbing materials over Chernobyl
03:33in the wake of the nuclear power plant disaster in a unique display of the design's versatility.
03:39The MI-8 services continued after the Soviet Union's collapse,
03:43with many of these helicopters also being exported to dozens of countries all around the world,
03:48from Asia to South America and beyond.
03:51They've been used in a wide variety of ways,
03:53from classic transport helicopters to airborne command posts,
03:57armed gunships, mine layers, and even electronic warfare platforms.
04:01And even in the 2020s, this helicopter remains a reliable workhorse,
04:06but is certainly beginning to show its age.
04:08The original design is over 60 years old after all,
04:11and many of the MI-8s made during the Soviet era are reaching or surpassing the structural safety limits,
04:17with Russian officials announcing in late 2025 that around 300 of the country's oldest airframes would soon be retired.
04:25Many models lacked the kind of modern electronic warfare countermeasures and advanced armor needed to survive in today's high-intensity
04:32battlefields,
04:33and their relatively basic cockpit layouts and mechanical components struggle to compete with the latest and greatest Western competitors.
04:41And in a war that's become dominated by autonomous drones and long-range precision munitions,
04:46it may seem as though there's not really any room left for a basic helicopter from a bygone era.
04:51The stats appear to back this up, as the open-source intelligence group, Oryx,
04:56notes that both Russia and Ukraine have lost dozens of MI-8s in the war so far.
05:01Over 50 have either been damaged or outright destroyed on the Russian side,
05:05while Ukraine has lost an estimated 29 MI-8s so far.
05:09As a result, tactical planners on both sides might reasonably conclude that the best course of action from this point
05:16onward
05:16would be to ground their remaining MI-8s and only use them if they have no other options, rather than
05:22risk losing any more.
05:23But Ukraine doesn't work that way. It doesn't like to waste the assets at its disposal.
05:28It doesn't retire military vehicles or pieces of equipment, just because some might say they're a little outdated.
05:35Instead, Ukraine looks to make the most of every bit of hardware it has, even if that involves some out
05:40-of-the-box thinking.
05:41We've seen so many examples of this over the course of the war so far.
05:46Time and time again, Ukraine's military engineers have found ingenious new uses for old systems
05:51or extracted extraordinary value from weapons and vehicles that their Western allies were ready to send to the scrap heap.
05:58Look at the KS-19 for example.
06:01This 100mm anti-aircraft gun was designed in 1947, making it almost 80 years old by the time the war
06:08in Ukraine began.
06:09It's bulky, heavy and slow by modern standards, lacking any of the digital tracking or radar systems seen in modern
06:16anti-aircraft systems.
06:18On the face of it, it has almost no value whatsoever in a 21st century conflict.
06:23That's the conclusion that the Russian armed forces clearly came to, because when they took control of the Ukrainian town
06:29of Balaklyeh in the Kharkiv region early on in the war,
06:33they found close to 200 KS-19s in local warehouses, but decided to leave them in place.
06:38Ukraine eventually regained control of the area and decided to repurpose some of those old anti-aircraft guns, using them
06:45instead for direct strikes on ground-based targets.
06:48One brigade even attached a KS-19 to an old military man truck, turning it from a towed anti-aircraft
06:54gun into a self-propelled artillery system.
06:57It was a stroke of genius, and Kyiv's forces have taken that same spirit of innovation and applied it to
07:03the Miele Mi-8 in order to ensure that this decades-old transport chopper remains relevant in its war with
07:09Russia.
07:10As drones became a larger part of the conflict, Kyiv's Mi-8s were equipped with an array of machine guns
07:16to intercept them.
07:17Then, they were fitted with electro-optical targeting systems to aid with target detection and searchlights to allow them to
07:24hunt in low-light conditions.
07:26These changes allowed the Mi-8 to continue to take to the skies in contested areas and cope with the
07:32Russian drone threat.
07:33Now, Ukraine has gone much, much further.
07:36It's transformed the Mi-8 into an airborne drone launch platform by attaching interceptor UAVs directly onto the helicopter's external
07:44weapon pylons.
07:46F-7 Litavra interceptor drones, to be precise, which are produced domestically in Ukraine by the company F-Drones.
07:53According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, these drones, which are named after a traditional Cossack drum, can reach peak
08:00speeds of 350 kilometers or 220 miles per hour and travel to heights of around 9,000 meters or 29
08:07,500 feet.
08:09They have an operational range of around 40 kilometers or 25 miles, though there are reports of some units traveling
08:16up to twice that distance.
08:17And the key feature that separates these interceptor drones from other models is their Automatic Terminal Guidance System, otherwise known
08:25as the Last Smile or Pixel Lock System.
08:27Once a target has been identified, the drone's autonomous navigation takes over to guide it to the point of impact,
08:34with the human pilot only having to control the system's speed rather than its flight path.
08:39If no targets are detected, the pilot can switch their drone to safe mode and bring it back to base,
08:45so it can be reused rather than wasted.
08:48It's a smart and efficient design, and these F-7 UAVs are already playing active roles, alongside Ukraine's other interceptor
08:56drones encountering Russia's own drones.
08:58Now, before we look more closely at how this state-of-the-art interceptor technology has been cleverly combined with
09:05a Cold War helicopter, you're watching The Military Show.
09:08And if you haven't subscribed yet, now's the time.
09:11The new and improved MIL-MI-8 was shown off as part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Independence Day address
09:19on August 24, 2026.
09:21A video clip showed one drone being launched from a metal guide rail mounted on an MI-8 hardpoint.
09:28It was only a brief piece of footage, but that was still more than enough for military experts to analyse
09:33and learn quite a lot from,
09:35though opinions are divided on the specifics of how the helicopter actually works.
09:39Some reports suggest that the drones may be controlled directly from inside the MI-8's cockpit, for example,
09:46while others believe that they may be controlled remotely via Starlink satellites instead.
09:50Expert assessments also differ as to how many drones each helicopter could theoretically carry.
09:56Defence Express, for example, reports that a single MI-8 could potentially carry up to 12 interceptors,
10:02with two mounted on each of its six pylons.
10:05Militani, meanwhile, states that each helicopter can carry a minimum of six interceptors,
10:10with at least three launchers fitted either side of the airframe.
10:14Its report also notes that the MI-8 has most likely been fitted with some sort of optical station
10:19that would allow it to visually detect aerial threats prior to launching drones,
10:23and several experts have suggested that, in addition to the F-7,
10:27the MI-8 could potentially be configured to carry other kinds of interceptors in the future.
10:32Regardless of the specifics, this may very well be one of, if not the most extraordinary example we've seen so
10:39far,
10:39of the Ukrainian military repurposing a seemingly outdated system.
10:43MI-8 crews have been hunting down Russia's Shahid-type drones since 2024,
10:48but they were always limited in terms of what weapons they could actually use to tackle the UAVs they encountered.
10:54Footage from their missions showed that they relied largely on the likes of 7.62mm PKT machine guns,
11:01or US-supplied M134 mini-guns, for example, and secondary helicopters,
11:07equipped with optical tracking systems, were often deployed to provide intelligence and support.
11:12It worked, but it was inefficient.
11:15Countless rounds of ammunition were wasted,
11:17and if one of the weapons operator's aim wasn't quite right,
11:20a Russian Shahid could easily strike the helicopter and send it spiraling out of the air.
11:24Russia's drone operators could also simply take alternative routes to remain out of the range of the MI-8's guns.
11:31These new drone-launching helicopters will be much more of a serious threat for the Kremlin's forces to contend with.
11:37They give MI-8 pilots greater range, accuracy, and lethality when dealing with the Russian swarms,
11:43and if each helicopter can carry between 6 and 12 drones,
11:46that means it could engage and eliminate up to a dozen Russian UAVs during a single sortie using its interceptors
11:53alone,
11:53before heading back to base to rearm.
11:55This unique innovation also extends the reach of interceptors like the F-7 Litavra.
12:01Typically, they can only fly for a few dozen kilometers and loiter in the air for a matter of minutes
12:05before running out of power,
12:07meaning that they have to be deployed quite close to whatever they're intending to attack
12:11and can't remain airborne for too long before either targeting an enemy drone or switching to safe mode and flying
12:17back to base.
12:18The MI-8, however, can take off from safe spaces within Ukrainian territory,
12:23cover great distances at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour, 155 miles per hour,
12:29and carry its interceptors closer to contested zones or frontline locations,
12:34waiting until the time is right to launch them, preserving their limited power supplies,
12:38and giving each one the very best chance of a successful strike.
12:42Interceptor drones are already changing the course of this war,
12:45with Ukraine increasingly relying on systems like the Wild Hornet Sting and Skyfall P-1 Sun
12:51to down dozens of Russian UAVs on a daily basis.
12:54This new and improved MI-8 will make these assets even more effective,
12:58and we already have a prime example of what this kind of technology is capable of.
13:03Back in April of 2026, reports revealed that a Ukrainian pilot named T-MOR-4
13:08Fat Kulin had converted an old Anatov AN-28 light turboprop plane into an airborne interceptor platform.
13:15He mounted P-1 Sun and Merops AS-3 surveyor interceptor drones onto hardpoints
13:21situated beneath the plane's wings before putting his creation to test in real battlefield conditions.
13:27Aircraft launched P-1 Sun interceptor against hostile Shahids.
13:31This method has already proven effective in real combat conditions.
13:34We've also tested several other interceptor drones during training flights.
13:38You could call it a cheap air-to-air missile.
13:41For us, it's also a step toward technology that will allow drones to operate in zero visibility.
13:46Just like the Mi-8, the AN-28 was widely considered to be quite an outdated airframe.
13:53It first took flight in 1969, before entering large-scale production in the mid-1970s,
13:58and officially entering service in 1986.
14:02It was used as a short-range airliner and utility aircraft,
14:06and a small number remain in service today with regional airlines in Russia,
14:09but most military models have been retired.
14:12Few people would have thought that this decades-old plane
14:15would be able to provide much value in a war that involves AI-powered drones,
14:19robotic armoured vehicles, and supersonic missile systems,
14:22but one Ukrainian pilot thought differently.
14:25He believed that there was still some life and value in this Soviet-era airframe,
14:29so he did what few would dare to do.
14:31He made some modifications, then put his own life on the line
14:34by flying his modernised turboprop into contested airspace to confront Russian drones.
14:40And it didn't just work.
14:41It thrived.
14:43A mere month after the first reports of his AN-28 interceptor platform emerged,
14:48Fat Kulin claimed that he'd already managed to destroy over 200 enemy drones
14:52using a combination of interceptors and the plane's onboard weapon systems,
14:56which include a six-barrel M134 minigun.
14:59It's a remarkable success story,
15:01and there's every chance that the new Mi-8 configuration can experience similar,
15:06if not greater, success in the months to come.
15:08It could even pave the way for a whole host of new interceptor aircraft carriers
15:12that would allow Ukraine to take its interceptor fleet to the next level,
15:16enjoying instant altitude, longer loiter times,
15:19and the ability to vector towards their target using their onboard sensors
15:23before they even take off.
15:24This is particularly important at the moment,
15:27because Russia is more reliant on its drones than ever before.
15:30Tanks and armoured vehicles have failed to make the kind of territorial gains
15:33that the Kremlin's commanders were hoping for.
15:36Frontline assault squads are also being routinely nullified,
15:39and Ukraine has even managed to gain some ground in certain areas over the course of 2026,
15:44pushing the Russians back and reclaiming lost land.
15:47Many of Russia's other tactics have failed to yield tangible benefits on the battlefield,
15:51and the Kremlin is finding it harder and harder to recruit the tens of thousands of new troops
15:56it actually needs to maintain any sort of serious frontline pressure,
16:00which is one of the reasons that Moscow may be planning some sort of mobilisation towards the end of the
16:05year.
16:05Even if it goes ahead with that and brings in more soldiers, its problems are likely to persist.
16:11The Ukrainian armed forces are heavily entrenched in key areas
16:14and have fine-tuned their strategies when it comes to fending off assaults
16:17and holding on to the most important cities and settlements.
16:21Russia's only hope is drones.
16:23All it can do is keep making more of them each month and sending vast swarms,
16:27made up of hundreds of individual UAVs over the border into Ukraine
16:31to lay waste to the country's military and civilian infrastructure,
16:35hoping that the pressure will eventually prove too much for Kyiv to cope with.
16:39But as long as Ukraine can continue to find bigger, better and smarter ways to counteract those drones,
16:44then it has every chance of withstanding Russia's aerial assault,
16:47while continuing to wreak havoc on refineries, logistics and other targets via its own drone strikes.
16:53And so the war will likely slip further into a grinding attritional affair,
16:57dominated almost entirely by unmanned systems, but the only question left is, which side will break first?
17:04As the weeks and months go by, the Western world drifts inexorably closer towards a war with China.
17:11All the signs are there, from Beijing's increasingly aggressive military posturing
17:15to the statements of its leader, Xi Jinping, who calls his country's reunification with Taiwan unstoppable.
17:21And while the grim reality of a prospective conflict is still slowly dawning in certain parts of the world,
17:28other nations are actively preparing for the fight to come.
17:31Australia is one of them.
17:33As the Chinese threat grows ever larger, Canberra refuses to sit idly by.
17:38For the first time since the Second World War, Australian officials are not only discussing
17:43the increasingly realistic prospect of conflict, but also actively investing in their country's defences
17:48to ensure that they're ready for it.
17:50There are several clear reasons to explain Australia's urgency.
17:54One of the most obvious ones is geographical.
17:57Despite being classified as a Western power, Australia is situated deep in the Eastern Hemisphere,
18:03quite far from most of its closest political allies like the United States and the United Kingdom.
18:08It's not all that close to China either.
18:10But if and when war breaks out, Australia stands to be one of the first nations in the firing lines.
18:16It has to be able to defend itself, since it won't necessarily have the luxury of being able to wait
18:21around
18:21for allied nations to mobilise their forces and move into the Pacific region to help out.
18:27Indeed, given that Beijing now reportedly possesses hypersonic missile systems,
18:32which are capable of moving over five times faster than the speed of sound,
18:36with some, like the DF-41, capable of speeds 25 times faster than sound,
18:42Australia may have very little warning time to work with.
18:45And hypersonic missiles aren't the only thing that Australia has to worry about.
18:49A recent report from the foreign policy think tank, the Lowy Institute,
18:53argues that a historic shift in Beijing's military strength presents a real and growing threat to the Australian mainland.
19:01While the report is purely analytical and makes no comment or prediction about the possibility of war between the two
19:07nations,
19:07it clearly states that China already possesses the capability to deal serious damage to Australia.
19:13For example, China could deploy road-mobile DF-26 ballistic missiles,
19:18launched from six-axle heavy transport trucks to strike directly at targets across Australia.
19:23Boasting a reported range over 5,000 kilometres, 3,100 miles,
19:28the DF-26 can carry warheads weighing up to 1,800 kilograms, 4,000 pounds,
19:34and strike with an accuracy of 100 metres, or 330 feet.
19:38It's been nicknamed the Guam Killer, since it was China's first conventionally armed ballistic missile,
19:44claimed to be capable of reaching American military bases on the island territory of Guam,
19:48but could also deal major damage to any other country that stands in China's way, like Australia.
19:54Sam Roggeveen, one of the co-authors of the Lowy Institute report,
19:58also notes that even if China's direct strike capabilities have been fairly modest in the past,
20:03that's clearly beginning to change.
20:04He notes that China is believed to have already developed a new intercontinental ballistic missile,
20:09armed with a non-nuclear warhead, that could easily reach Australia,
20:13and is also working on a subsonic stealth bomber, the H-20,
20:16which could also pose a massive threat to the country.
20:19We have no photographic evidence it even exists,
20:22but there's plenty of reporting from good open sources,
20:25and Pentagon annual reports which refer to this design.
20:28It's quite possible that photographic evidence emerges this year,
20:31we assume it's close to breaking cover.
20:34Then, there are the drones.
20:36Like every other major military power on Earth,
20:38China has been keeping a close eye on the events of the Russia-Ukraine war.
20:42It's clearly seen the enormous impact that unmanned systems have had in that conflict,
20:47with Russia relying on vast swarms of them to deal devastating damage across Ukraine,
20:51and Ukraine, in turn, building its own drone army to battle back and carry out precision strikes
20:56on Russian refineries, military bases, and logistics hubs.
21:00Roggeveen notes that it may be some time until China has drones capable of traversing the South China Sea
21:05and reaching the Australian mainland.
21:07But it's certainly something that the People's Liberation Army, PLA, is looking at.
21:12We also see some evidence emerging that China is looking at long-range drone systems,
21:17not just for surveillance, but potentially one which could act as a bomber,
21:21which could potentially reach Australia,
21:23although it's difficult to see China fielding that capability within a decade.
21:27Bomber drones might not be an imminent threat,
21:29but Beijing is still building a sizeable fleet of strike and surveillance drones,
21:33designed to saturate enemy air defenses, penetrate hostile airspace,
21:38gather intelligence, and strike at troops, equipment, and infrastructure.
21:41It's also been very busy building the biggest naval force on the planet.
21:46As Roggeveen notes,
21:47We now see good evidence of new shipyards and very modern designs.
21:51He added that the PLA Navy's circumnavigation of Australia in 2025
21:56demonstrated China's growing ability to project power further and further from its borders,
22:01and this will only increase as Beijing continues to build more warships,
22:05and more importantly, additional aircraft carriers.
22:08They're learning to operate those carriers in an efficient manner
22:11and developing real military capabilities,
22:14and they're pushing for up to nine carriers,
22:16which could make them far and away the second biggest aircraft carrier fleet in the world
22:20and close to the US.
22:21Now, the larger China's navy becomes,
22:24the easier it will be for the country to exert control over the South China Sea and beyond,
22:29piling pressure on any nation that dares to stand in its way
22:32when the time comes to take over Taiwan.
22:35Australia is one of those countries that could suffer the most,
22:38if and when that happens,
22:39and China wouldn't even necessarily need to launch any missiles
22:43or carry out any bombardments on Australian soil.
22:46It could make life significantly harder for the Australian people in numerous other ways,
22:50such as severing undersea cables,
22:52blockading trade routes through strategic choke points around the Indonesian archipelago,
22:57preventing shipments entering or leaving Australian waters,
23:00or carrying out cyber warfare operations against critical infrastructure.
23:04All of these methods are listed as prospective threats in the Lowy report,
23:09and given that Australia is an island nation,
23:11heavily dependent on maritime trade to ensure that essential goods,
23:15like fuel, medicine and modern technologies,
23:17are available to its people and businesses,
23:19it's extremely vulnerable to any sort of disruption of trade routes and shipping lanes.
23:23The report adds that any threat to Australia would multiply dramatically
23:27if China were able to seize control of some sort of military base within the Pacific,
23:32as this would bring central Australia within bomber range
23:35and allow attacks to be mounted more frequently.
23:37For now, the report authors argue that the US is the main obstacle standing in China's way
23:43of not just taking Taiwan, but taking far greater control of large parts of the entire eastern hemisphere.
23:48The primary counterweight is the credibility of US extended deterrence
23:52and the cohesion of US-led security arrangement,
23:55both of which China's build-up is directly designed to erode.
23:58The PLA is thus helping China to construct a sphere of influence in Southeast Asia
24:03that excludes Australia and its partners.
24:05In sum, these changes represent a historic shift that affects Australia's interests,
24:10regardless of China's capacity to strike Australian territory directly.
24:14The authors call on Australia to take steps now to counteract this potential threat.
24:19Thankfully, it appears that the Australian government is paying attention.
24:23Indeed, after China carried out a test launch of a nuclear-capable missile back in July,
24:28the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese,
24:31labelled the action as both provocative and destabilising.
24:34Pat Conroy, the Minister of Defence Industry and Minister for Pacific Island Affairs,
24:39echoed Albanese's comment, stating that the test was not conducive to China's standing in the region,
24:44and calling for like-minded countries across the region to pursue some sort of regional security agreement.
24:49When questioned on China's massive military investment and modernisation, Conroy was unequivocal.
24:55What we're seeing in the region is the biggest arms race, the biggest build-up of military since 1945,
25:00and that's occurring without any transparency or strategic reassurance.
25:05This is a race where we have to make sure the Australian Defence Force has the best possible equipment.
25:10Where prepared for a conflict in our region, everyone is working very hard to avoid it.
25:15So, what exactly is Australia doing to prepare itself for war?
25:19But before we look at the details, the military show brings you the full picture, not just headlines.
25:25Hit subscribe to stay ahead of the curve.
25:28As Conroy notes, Australia would understandably prefer to avoid conflict if possible.
25:34But the harsh fact of the matter is that China may not feel the same way.
25:38Xi Jinping appears intent on attempting to take Taiwan eventually, no matter what the Western world has to say about
25:43it.
25:44And when that time comes, the PLA may very well adopt a strike-first negotiate-later approach to any countries
25:50that dare to stand in its way.
25:52Since Australia is a member of the AUKUS Trilateral Security Partnership, which also includes the United Kingdom and the United
25:58States,
25:59it will almost inevitably be expected to step in to support the defence of Taiwan.
26:04AUKUS also ensures that Australia's military is set to be in a much stronger place by the 2030s.
26:10The agreement involves the purchase of three US-made Virginia-class submarines,
26:14plus the co-development of a whole new class of nuclear-powered submarines, some of which will be built in
26:19Adelaide, Australia.
26:20But that's still several years away, and there's every chance that China will take some sort of military action before
26:26the 2020s are through.
26:28With that in mind, Australian officials understand that they need to do more today if they want to be ready
26:33for whatever may come tomorrow.
26:35So, on August 4, the Australian Labour government unveiled a parliamentary inquiry into the country's national civil preparedness and resilience.
26:44A bipartisan committee has been established and asked to examine how Australian business and the broader community can contribute to
26:51national defence
26:52and ensure that essential goods and services continue to remain accessible even in times of crisis.
26:57The committee will also investigate strengths and weaknesses in Australia's existing infrastructure and preparedness,
27:03with its chair, Labour Senator Deb O'Neill, stating that the task of defending the nation and deterring assaults on
27:10our sovereignty lies not only to armed servicemen and women,
27:13but to every Australian and engages every sector of the economy and our civil society.
27:18In short, Australia wants to ensure that the whole country is ready for war and all of the challenges it
27:24brings,
27:24and that all relevant entities, from small businesses to nationwide brands, can play a part in confronting those challenges and
27:31keeping the country afloat.
27:32As Deputy Committee Chair Dave Sharma explains,
27:36Australia's deteriorating strategic environment and heightened geopolitical risk requires a greater degree of resilience, preparedness and self-reliance,
27:44so Australia can withstand global shocks. This inquiry will contribute to that effort.
27:49Experts believe that some of the committee's key areas of focus might include looking at ways in which the government
27:54can stockpile or secure essential imports,
27:57like fuel and fertiliser, in order to withstand supply chain shocks and trade disruptions that are likely to occur during
28:04a war with China.
28:05It will also likely look at ways to safeguard essential infrastructure, keep food flowing to communities across the country,
28:12and examine ways in which other nations around the world have prepared for the possibility of war in order to
28:17learn from them.
28:17They may, for instance, look to countries in the Nordic and Baltic regions,
28:22which have been taking steps to strengthen their borders and insulate their infrastructure against the rising threats of Russian aggression.
28:28Regardless of the exact methods involved, this is a massive step for Australia.
28:33As Defence Minister Richard Marles notes,
28:35this is an area which really hasn't received much attention in Australian public policy since the end of the Second
28:41World War.
28:41For decades, Australia, like many parts of Western Europe, effectively operated on the assumption that the days of world wars
28:48were over.
28:49It enjoyed the many benefits of years of peace.
28:52But now, with the risk of a major conflict growing greater all the time,
28:55it can no longer afford to operate as though the old rules still apply.
28:59It has to prepare itself.
29:00And this new parliamentary inquiry is just one small part of a far larger strategy.
29:06In April of this year, Marles also announced that Australia's national defence spending is set to surge by around $53
29:12billion over the coming decade
29:14as a direct response to what the government calls intensifying global risks.
29:18Canberra has committed to spend around 3% of its gross domestic product, GDP, on the military by 2033, with
29:26Marles telling reporters,
29:27More countries are engaged in conflict today than at any time since the end of World War II,
29:33and this is occurring across every region of the world.
29:35In the face of this, the Albanese government is pursuing every avenue of increasing defence capability quickly,
29:41mostly through bigger defence appropriations, but also through accessing private capital.
29:4614 of the $53 billion is set to be spent in the next four years,
29:51with a large part of that sum going towards upgrades to the Henderson shipyards of Western Australia,
29:56where new nuclear-powered submarines and Megami-class frigates will be constructed and housed.
30:01Several billion dollars have also been allocated to new investments in drone technologies,
30:05and the $53 billion figure is just a fraction of Australia's expected expenditure in the years ahead.
30:11The country's 2026 Integrated Investment Programme, IIP, revealed that the government will invest around $425 billion over the coming decade
30:21to deliver accelerated capability for a more integrated focus force.
30:26Key objectives of this investment include building a larger and more lethal navy, with more surface ships and submarines,
30:33expanding the army's capabilities for literal operations across Australia's northern lands and maritime spaces,
30:39with additional landing craft, long-range strike capabilities and a combined arms-land system,
30:44and a more advanced air force that will be able to provide air support for integrated operations,
30:49carrying out surveillance, strike and air defence missions.
30:52Australia isn't neglecting the cyber side of warfare either.
30:56It intends to strengthen its cyber capabilities to safeguard networks and systems from digital attacks,
31:02and has also announced plans to enhance its space capabilities in order to provide stronger space-based situational awareness and
31:08communication.
31:09In short, Canberra is leaving no stone unturned in its mission to modernise and maximise its military capacities
31:15through what's left of the 2020s and into the 2030s and beyond.
31:19It has a long list of long-term goals, some of which may take several years to achieve,
31:24but also wants to ensure that its armed forces enjoy some significant improvements in defensive strength and deterrence
31:30before this decade is done.
31:32With that in mind, billions of dollars are already going towards two of the country's top military priorities,
31:38Autonomous and Precision Strike Systems, which are both core focuses in the country's 2026 National Defence Strategy document.
31:46Australia's tactical planners have clearly understood that if their country wants to be able to deter its enemies from taking
31:52action against it,
31:53it needs to have weapons that are actually capable of striking them.
31:56As Mike Hughes, director of the Defence Strategy Programme at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute notes,
32:03that's very hard to achieve if we're stuck with 120 kilometres of range.
32:08Investing in capabilities that put that out to 2,500 kilometres is a serious uplift in the ADF's capabilities.
32:15Even 2,500 kilometres or 1,550 miles still wouldn't be enough for Australia to fire directly on Chinese territory
32:23from its own mainland,
32:24but it would allow the ADF to project power much further than it has in the past
32:28and exert a far greater level of influence and control across the surrounding seas.
32:33With this in mind, Canberra has already negotiated an agreement with America to obtain a batch of US-made Tomahawk
32:39cruise missiles,
32:40which can cover those kinds of extended distances and will greatly extend the Royal Australian Navy's brand strike radius.
32:46And Australia isn't just procuring weapons from its allies, but is also taking big steps towards creating its own systems
32:53and munitions as well.
32:54In April of this year, for example, the Australian Army carried out test fires of its first ever domestically produced
33:00guided multiple launch rocket system missile,
33:03which was fired from a US-made high-mobility artillery rocket system, HIMARS.
33:08The RAN has also been working together with an American drone manufacturer, Anduril, on a brand new unmanned underwater vehicle,
33:15the Ghost Shark, which appears tailor-made for a country with one of the longest coastlines in the world.
33:20Some of Canberra's top military minds have also teamed up with Japanese counterparts to create a new high-energy laser
33:27system,
33:27which could have an array of applications aboard both ground vehicles and naval vessels.
33:32And Australia also recently celebrated the successful testing of a so-called Frankenstein medium-range air defense system,
33:39which could provide the country with a much more affordable alternative to US-made Patriot missile batteries moving forward.
33:45These are just a few of the examples we already know about,
33:48and it's highly likely that Australia has plenty more projects underway and still under wraps, just waiting to be unveiled.
33:55What's clear is that the country isn't messing around.
33:58It's making all the right moves to prepare for the worst-case scenario, facing the threat of war head-on,
34:03rather than shying away from it, and ensuring that not just its military,
34:07but its entire society is ready to deal with whatever China has to throw its way.
34:13On the last day of August 2026, Japan's Ministry of Defense published a document that few people outside the defense
34:20community are likely to read all the way through.
34:23It was the budget request for fiscal year 2027, running to hundreds of pages of line items for rifle ammunition,
34:31fuel contracts, barracks upgrades, and parts shortages.
34:34And buried in a subsection about ammunition stockpiles and industrial resilience was a short but interesting phrase.
34:41The Ministry described one of its missiles, the ASM-3 Kai, as an air-to-surface and possibly even an
34:48anti-air missile.
34:50Why is this so peculiar?
34:51Well, the ASM-3 family has only ever been publicly associated with sinking ships.
34:57It's a large supersonic weapon designed to be slung under the wings of a Mitsubishi F2 and thrown at an
35:03enemy fleet.
35:04But the moment you attach the anti-air phrasing to a missile that reportedly flies more than 400 kilometers at
35:11around Mach 3,
35:12you potentially have a new credible threat.
35:14And this is a good way to introduce what's actually been happening in Japan over the past three years.
35:20The country has spent decades building a military shaped by a defense-oriented policy,
35:25but has been quietly assembling an arsenal with increasingly long-range capabilities.
35:30Today, we're going to walk through what we actually know about Japanese weapons,
35:35how each one would be used in a shooting war with China,
35:38and where the public information stops and the speculation begins.
35:41But before we can get there, make sure to subscribe to The Military Show
35:46in order to get the latest news on global geopolitics and warfare.
35:50And if you want access to more exclusive content,
35:53become a member to directly support our efforts in quality content creation.
35:57Let's start with the money, because the money frames everything.
36:01Japan's Ministry of Defense asked for roughly 8.89 trillion yen for the 2027 fiscal year.
36:07In dollars, that's somewhere between 55 and 56 billion dollars.
36:12And the fact that we have to say somewhere in between is itself part of the story.
36:16The ministry calculated the request at a planning rate of 149 yen to the dollar,
36:21but the yen was trading closer to 160 when the request landed.
36:25So every American-made system priced in dollars would cost Japan substantially more in yen than the headline figure suggests.
36:32This is also the fifth and final installment of the 43 trillion yen defense build-up program that Tokyo launched
36:39in December 2022.
36:41And when Tokyo designed its five-year build-up, it used a much more modest 108 yen to the dollar.
36:47This is the same package that came with a formal decision to acquire what Japan calls a counter-strike capability,
36:54meaning the ability to hit military targets inside an adversary's territory after Japan has been attacked.
37:00Japan also hit its target of spending 2% of GDP two full years ahead of schedule.
37:06Once the blanks are filled in, defense officials have suggested the final enacted budget could pass 10 trillion yen, a
37:13new record.
37:15Now the weapons.
37:16First is the ASM-3 Kai from the intro, because it's the one that generated the mystery.
37:21The baseline ASM-3 is a domestically developed missile designed for the F-2.
37:27It's ramjet-powered, which actually matters.
37:30Most air-to-air missiles use a rocket motor that burns hard for a few seconds and then coasts,
37:35bleeding energy the whole way to the target.
37:37But a ramjet keeps burning, sustaining speed instead of trading it away,
37:41which is why reported figures put the ASM-3 Kai at around Mach 3 with a reach beyond 400 kilometers.
37:47The exact operational range is classified,
37:51and the program has gone through at least five distinct external configurations over its development history.
37:56So the missile that eventually enters service may not look much like the one photographed under an F-2 at
38:02Gifu.
38:02The seeker is where it gets interesting.
38:05The ASM-3 uses a combined active and passive radar seeker.
38:09The active radar lights up a target with its own radar, while the passive homes in on emissions.
38:14For an anti-ship missile, that's a useful redundancy.
38:17For an anti-air missile, it's close to a purpose-built solution to one specific problem.
38:22That problem is China's airborne early warning fleet.
38:26The People's Liberation Army operates dozens of increasingly capable fixed-wing radar aircraft,
38:31while the new KJ-3000 is undergoing development and flight testing.
38:36These are the aircraft that let China see deep, coordinate fighters,
38:39and push its sensor coverage far past its own coastline.
38:43They're also, by physical necessity, screaming into the electromagnetic spectrum the entire time they're doing it.
38:49A large missile with a passive seeker, hundreds of kilometers of reach,
38:53and a ramjet keeping it fast the whole way,
38:56is a very direct answer to an aircraft that cannot hide and cannot maneuver.
39:00So here's what that would mean in a conflict.
39:03Chinese anti-access planning depends on pushing Japanese and American fighters back,
39:08while keeping Chinese command and control aircraft close enough to be useful.
39:12If Japan can credibly threaten those aircraft from three or four hundred kilometers out,
39:17the PLA has to move them further back.
39:19And, you don't have to shoot a single early warning aircraft down.
39:23You just have to make operating them near the fight look like a losing proposition.
39:27The same logic applies to tankers, jammers, and intelligence aircraft,
39:31now all convenient targets for the same type of weapon.
39:34Do note that there's no indication that the ASM-3 Kai has ever been tested against an aircraft.
39:40The designation could reflect a broad classification convention inside the budget document.
39:46It could also describe a future variant rather than the current weapon.
39:49Everything above is what the capability would mean if the designation is real.
39:53But what's not in doubt is the direction of travel around it.
39:57The same budget request names the AGM-88G Argum ER,
40:02which is an extended range anti-radiation missile designed to kill air defense radars.
40:07Japan hasn't previously been publicly documented as an Argum ER customer.
40:11It also funds upgrading an initial 10 F2s to carry the air launch version of the upgraded Type 12 anti
40:18-ship missile.
40:19Put those together and you get a picture of an air force that's building a weapon for tearing holes in
40:24a dense integrated air defense network
40:26and destroying the aircraft that hold it together.
40:29Now for the second weapon.
40:30And this one is arguably more interesting because it does something genuinely strange.
40:35Japan is developing what it currently calls the island defense missile or simply the new SSM.
40:41Kawasaki has been on the project since 2023.
40:44And in January 2026 footage surfaced in a montage released by Japan's Acquisition Technology and Logistics Agency
40:52showing a prototype doing something you rarely see a cruise missile do on camera, barrel rolling.
40:58Official Japanese graphics have depicted the missile corkscrewing past what appears to be a Chinese Type 730 close-in weapon
41:05system.
41:06The 7-barrel 30mm Gatling gun that forms part of a warship's close-in defenses against incoming missiles.
41:13An improved 11-barrel version, the Type 1130, is already in Chinese service.
41:18And China has experimented with even larger designs.
41:21The logic is brutally simple.
41:24A close-in gun system aims at where the missile will be, computing a firing solution off the target's current
41:29track
41:30and putting a wall of metal at that point in space.
41:32A missile flying a predictable line makes that computation easy.
41:36A missile spiraling unpredictably around its own axis forces the gun to keep resolving the problem
41:42and every calculation is more time the missile has to get closer uncontested.
41:47The concept itself is not new, as Norway's naval strike missile is also designed to perform high-G terminal maneuvers,
41:54although not the same barrel roll maneuver shown by the new SSM.
41:57However, Japan hasn't confirmed the range of the new SSM.
42:01What officials have said is that it will exceed the Type 12s, which reaches about 200 kilometers,
42:07while an upgraded Type 12 now in development is suggested to have a range of 900 to 1,000 kilometers.
42:13So, the new SSM could even start somewhere past that upper figure.
42:17There's also the possibility of using the same basic airframe as the basis for a land attack weapon,
42:23a dedicated decoy or a loitering surveillance platform that could strike what it finds.
42:28That blurs the line between cruise missile and drone,
42:31and it means that Japan would be building one production line and getting four or five weapons out of it.
42:36Let's put the weapon through a hypothetical field test.
42:40The Japanese island of Yonaguni sits roughly 70 miles from Taiwan's northern shore.
42:45Japan has already been moving to bolster air defenses there.
42:48Even at the low end of plausible range,
42:51new SSMs based on Yonaguni would cover the waters around Taiwan,
42:55the Bashi Channel approaches, and portions of the Chinese mainland coast.
42:59If deployed from ground launchers, destroyers, F2s, and P1 maritime patrol aircraft,
43:05they could potentially arrive at a Chinese amphibious group from launchers
43:08that are individually cheap to hide and expensive to find.
43:11Now, if you're finding this useful, take a second to hit subscribe.
43:16It really helps us keep making these, and there's a lot more where this came from.
43:20Now, let's get to the part of Japan's arsenal that nobody has seen at all.
43:24In August 2026, Japan's Ministry of Defense was reported to have begun planning an underwater launch hypersonic missile under its
43:33fiscal 2027 program.
43:35Japanese officials have carefully framed the program as research rather than a committed acquisition,
43:41and it sits among those unpriced item requests.
43:43The news outlet that covered the report described the weapon as underwater-launched,
43:48while Russia's tasks used the more specific term of submarine-launched.
43:51What is known is that the platform work is already underway underneath it.
43:56Japan has funded development of a vertical launch system for future conventionally powered diesel-electric submarines,
44:02running from 2026 to 2029 at an estimated 3.9 billion yen, or about $25 million.
44:09The system is being designed to be versatile, fitting long-range cruise missiles,
44:15a naval version of Japan's hypersonic glide weapon, and eventually a purpose-built underwater-launched hypersonic.
44:21Separately, the budget request floats a submarine-launched-guided missile
44:25and research into standoff missile launch modules for unmanned underwater vehicles.
44:30Let's hold on for a bit on that last part.
44:33Japan is not only working on arming its submarines, but it's making robot submarines.
44:37The Defense Ministry apparently plans to have AI-equipped, long-endurance underwater drones,
44:43whose payload can be swapped between missiles and torpedoes.
44:46A big advantage here is that when compared to crewed submarines,
44:50underwater drones can be built and deployed in much bigger numbers.
44:53So why does putting a hypersonic missile underwater change the arithmetic so much?
44:59Because every other piece of Japan's counter-strike force shares a weakness.
45:03It can be found.
45:04Land-based launchers can be located, tracked and hit.
45:08Surfer ships can be found and hit.
45:10A missile force that can be destroyed on the ground in an opening salvo doesn't deter anybody
45:14because the adversary's planners will simply build a big enough opening salvo.
45:19A submerged launcher is a different problem entirely.
45:22It moves.
45:23Its positions can be difficult to pinpoint.
45:25It can sit somewhere in an enormous volume of ocean and there is no set of coordinates to put on
45:30a targeting list.
45:31Combine that with a hypersonic glide vehicle and you get a weapon that's hard to find before launch and hard
45:37to intercept after it.
45:38That's not a speed upgrade.
45:40It's a survivability argument.
45:42And survivability is the entire mechanism by which a retaliatory threat works.
45:46Such a system could give Japan a more survivable means of holding enemy bases at risk,
45:51particularly if it could remain undetected before launch.
45:54Which brings us to how Japan plans to defend itself.
45:58Japan's first Aegis system equipped vessel is taking shape at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries yard in Nagasaki.
46:04And the pictures that emerged in late August finally gave people a sense of scale.
46:09This ship is a monster at 620 feet long with an 82-foot beam and a standard displacement of 12
46:16,000 tons.
46:17For reference, Japan's current largest surface combatants, the Maya-class, have stats of 557 feet, 73 feet and around 8
46:25,200 tons.
46:27The reason it's that big is sitting on top of it.
46:30In late August, the first ship received its enormous integrated mast,
46:34which will eventually carry four fixed arrays for the AN-SPY-7V-1 radar,
46:40all in the same size class as the SPY-6 on America's Flight 3, Ali Burks.
46:44Putting the arrays on a dedicated mast rather than on the superstructure
46:48creates an unobstructed elevated line of sight to the horizon,
46:51which enables tracking low-flying cruise missiles and drones coming up the ship itself.
46:56Japan's 2026 defense white paper credits the SPY-7 with five times the tracking capability of the older SPY-1,
47:04specifically against lofted trajectories and simultaneous multiple ballistic missile threats.
47:10The radar itself is a derivative of the American long-range discrimination radar in Alaska,
47:15which is a good indication of what it was designed to do.
47:18Japan originally intended to install it ashore at two Aegis Ashore sites.
47:23Public opposition killed that plan, and the ASEV emerged to replace it.
47:27Each ship also gets 128 vertical launch cells.
47:31For comparison, a Maya-class destroyer or an Ali Burk has 96, while a Ticonderoga-class cruiser has 122.
47:39Initial armament is expected to be a mix of SM-3 and SM-6.
47:44The SM-3 family kills ballistic missiles in mid-course, outside the atmosphere,
47:48and has a demonstrated anti-satellite capability.
47:51While the SM-6 is a multi-purpose weapon that handles aircraft, terminal-phase ballistic missiles,
47:57some degree of hypersonic threat, and can be fired at surface ships.
48:00Japan is also a partner in the American-led glide-phase interceptor,
48:05designed specifically to hit hypersonic boost glide vehicles in flight.
48:09And there are two of them.
48:10The first is meant to be in service before the end of fiscal 2027, the second in the 2028 cycle.
48:17Which brings us to the last system.
48:19On March 17, 2026, a Kawasaki EC2 took off from Gifu Air Base for the first time.
48:26It is, many argue, one of the ugliest aircraft flying.
48:30A C-2 transport with a grotesquely bulging nose, two large bearings running in tandem along the spine,
48:36and two more on the rear fuselage.
48:38Japanese spotters nicknamed its predecessor as the Platypus.
48:41But the EC2 is a standoff electronic warfare aircraft, in development since 2021,
48:47and it's arguably the most important thing on this list.
48:50Its job is to sit outside the range of enemy air defences,
48:54and degrade radars and communications from a distance.
48:57Japan has previously indicated a requirement for four of them,
49:01whereas previously it had only one older EC1.
49:04Now let's assemble all of it and picture a Taiwan contingency where Japan is drawn in.
49:09Unlike what Duma circles would suggest, the first thing that happens is not a missile launch.
49:14Instead, Japan deploys the EC2 to work on Chinese sensors and communications from outside their reach.
49:20Simultaneously, F-35s carrying Argum ER could hunt the radars that survive.
49:25If the ASM-3 KAI's anti-air aspirations are real,
49:29Chinese early warning aircraft get pushed back out of useful range,
49:32and the whole PLA targeting architecture over the East China Sea starts running on degraded inputs.
49:38Then could come the sea denial layer.
49:40New SSMs and upgraded Type 12s could operate off Yonaguni and the other Nansae islands,
49:46off destroyers, off F-2s and P-1s, converging on an amphibious group from multiple axes,
49:52some of them court screwing through the gun defences.
49:55This threatens PLA amphibious formations and surface combatants inside the first island chain,
50:01which is exactly the water any Taiwan operation has to cross.
50:04And further toward the Japanese mainland, the ASEVs and the Aegis destroyers
50:09try to hold the ballistic and cruise missile barrage off Japanese bases long enough
50:14for those bases to keep generating sorties.
50:17And somewhere under the Philippine Sea,
50:19in the version of this that exists in about a decade rather than today,
50:23a future conventionally powered submarine equipped with vertical launch sails
50:27could hold Chinese bases at risk from a position that's difficult to locate.
50:31But China also likely fields thousands of missiles capable of reaching Japan,
50:36which is a bit of a problem, as Japan's ability to find targets hasn't exactly kept pace with its ability
50:42to hit them.
50:43Analysts have repeatedly flagged gaps in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance networks
50:48needed to locate and track time-sensitive targets like mobile missile launchers.
50:52A thousand-kilometre missile is worth very little without something telling it where to go,
50:57and that something is satellites, patrol aircraft and a sensor to shoot a chain that has to work under attack.
51:04This is further complicated by a supply chain problem.
51:07Ministry officials have warned that private supplies are leaving the defence market
51:11because the contracts aren't as profitable for the amount of work put in.
51:15The proposed fix is having a state-owned contractor-operated model where the government buys the factories and outsources the
51:21work.
51:22Another option is the earlier mention of mass-producing cheap attack drones.
51:26But this runs straight into the fact that Japan's commercial drone market is dominated by Chinese imports,
51:32and the components that make cheap drones cheap are overwhelmingly Chinese.
51:36Japan would need an alternative which adds more years to the timeline.
51:40And speaking of timelines, most of the systems here are still in their infancy.
51:45The submarine-launched hypersonic is in research.
51:47The ASEVs are still only two ships.
51:50The new SSM enters mass production next year at the earliest.
51:54Around 160 entries in Japan's 2027 budget request even have no specific funding amount attached,
52:01suggesting that the Japanese government is hedging its bets that new weapons development will yield some results.
52:07But Japan might have a plan to take care of all of that as well.
52:11On April 21, 2026, Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi's cabinet and Japan's National Security Council
52:18approved a revision to the three principles on transfer of defence equipment and technology.
52:23In plain terms, Japan scrapped the previous restrictions that had limited arms exports to five non-combat categories
52:30Rescue, Transport, Warning, Surveillance and Minesweeping.
52:34Instead, it allows the export of weapons with lethal capability.
52:38For reference, Japan's blanket export restrictions date to 1967,
52:43hardened further in 1976 and with the single most visible expression of the country's post-war identity.
52:49And the 2026 revision is thorough.
52:52Equipment is sorted into weapons and non-weapons by whether it has lethal or destructive capability.
52:57And lethal exports are limited to countries that have signed defence equipment and technology transfer agreements with Japan.
53:04These include 17 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, France, Germany, Italy,
53:12the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Mongolia and Bangladesh.
53:20Then in August, Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles and Japan's Shinjiro Koizumi announced an enhanced arrangement for Japan to use
53:29Australian missile ranges over the next decade,
53:32explicitly including Japan's hypersonic missile program.
53:35To see what that solves, remember that Japan is a narrow archipelago surrounded by other people's exclusive economic zones and
53:43its own dense population.
53:45You can't conduct full-range test launches of a thousand-kilometre hypersonic weapon over it.
53:50Geography has been a hard technical constraint on Japanese missile development for decades,
53:55and Australia has essentially removed it and enabled the program.
53:58So what does a genuinely shared arsenal look like?
54:02The most immediate candidate is the anti-ship missile family.
54:05The new SSM's modularity is exactly what makes a weapon exportable.
54:10Australia, which is already buying Japanese hulls and hosting Japanese missile tests, is the obvious first customer.
54:17The Philippines, which has already bought Japanese radars and sits astride the Luzon Strait, is a second.
54:22An island chain where Japan, the Philippines, Australia and the United States all fire the same or interoperable anti-ship
54:29missiles from the same kinds of dispersed launchers
54:32is a fundamentally harder problem for Chinese planners than four separate national inventories.
54:38The second candidate is the industrial base itself.
54:41Japan's real contribution to an allied coalition may not be any particular missile but the shipyards.
54:46Mitsubishi Heavy Industries laid down the first ASEV in July 2025 and had the main mast on it by August
54:542026.
54:55American yards don't move at nearly the same pace.
54:58The third is sensors and electronic warfare.
55:01With the EC2, Japan becomes more and more capable of detecting enemy operations and relaying that information further.
55:08As for how China might react to this, it's currently watching Japan reinvent itself as a military exporter
55:14that can build advanced weapons at scale, test them and then sell them to neighbours
55:18so they all have the coverage of what China is doing.
55:21As for how that might impact the Sino-Japanese relationship, only time will tell
55:26as neither country is willing to make the overt first move until they're forced to.
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