Japan’s New Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Barrel Rolls To Evade Defenses

A new long-range anti-ship cruise missile in development in Japan can be seen executing a series of barrel rolls in an official video clip. The spiraling trajectory is intended to make the weapon, currently referred to as the “island defense missile” or simply the “New SSM,” harder to intercept in the terminal phase of flight. Work on the New SSM has been proceeding since 2023 amid growing concerns about regional threats, especially from China .

The missile could be the first of a modular family of advanced cruise missiles. Footage of a New SSM performing the rolling manoeuvres during a test is included in a video montage recently released online by the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA). The footage was first shown publicly to attendees at ATLA