03 Oct 13. The Japanese Defence Ministry is planning a new protocol to deal with foreign unmanned aircraft that approach Japan’s airspace, like the Chinese military UAS that ventured near the disputed Senkaku Islands last month. The protocol will include provisions for “necessary measures,” or shooting down a UAS, if it continues to violate Japan’s airspace and poses a serious and immediate danger to the lives and property of the Japanese public, sources said. If a foreign aircraft threatens to enter Japan’s airspace without permission, the current protocol says the Air Self-Defence Force should immediately scramble a fighter jet and use radio and visual signals to call on the pilot to land or leave the area. It says warning shots should be fired ahead of the aircraft if the pilot refuses to comply. But an unmanned aircraft may not respond to such radio signals or warning shots. Officials will work out measures to deal with UAS-specific issues and incorporate them into the “rules of engagement,” which set specific protocols on the use of arms. On Sept. 9, a Chinese military UAS from the north west flew as far south as an area 200 kilometers northeast of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea before returning by the same route. Beijing claims sovereignty over the isles and calls them the Diaoyu Islands. Although earlier reports indicated that Chinese military UAS have flown above the East China Sea on several occasions, Sept. 9 was the first time one came so close that it could be visually discerned by Japanese defence staff, a senior Defence Ministry official said. (Source: UAS VISION/The Asahi Shimbun)
03 Oct 13. India has begun working on a homemade, man-portable anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), despite a US proposal to co-produce the Javelin ATGM. Defence Ministry sources said the homemade project — a third generation Nag missile — is unlikely to derail the proposed Javelin deal, which is in only the preliminary stages of negotiation with the US. A scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) claimed the Nag is lighter than the Javelin. In what one US Embassy diplomat in India described as a groundbreaking initiative in India’s ties with Washington, US Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has proposed that India co-develop — rather than merely buy — the Javelin missile. The Indian Army has a pressing demand for more than 20,000 third generation man-portable ATGMs, and all attempts to procure them from overseas over the past eight years has yielded no results. Israel’s offer of its Spike ATGM was rejected in 2007 because it was the only vendor to respond to the tender. The US, meanwhile, refused to transfer technology after a proposal to buy the Javelin on a government-to-government basis. Indian MoD sources said that last year, the US refused to sell Javelin in adequate numbers to India due to “ international strategic and geopolitical considerations.” (Source: Defense News)
02 Oct 13. Iran to develop new long-range air-to-air missile system. The Iranian Ministry of Defence is currently manufacturing a new long-range
air-to-air missile system called Maqsoud to counter airborne threats, Iranian armed forces general staff deputy head brigadier general Mohammad Hejazi has announced. Hejazi was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying: “Iran has accomplished construction of the mid-range air-to-air Fakour 90 missile and is now building Maqsoud missile system as its newest long-range air-to-air missile system.” Without providing additional details about the missile, Hejazi noted that the Iranian armed forces is currently working on 17 air-based weapons system development projects, alongside 11 top level projects in the aerospace industry. Addressing a conference on air-launched weaponry in Tehran, Hejazi also announced that the military experts have resolved targeting problem in the domestically manufactured air-based Qader and Nasr missile systems providing the Iranian armed forces with enha