Japan starts to assemble full scale ATD-X

[Kunal Biswas]

I smell J20 vs this that..

Moved post to Original J20 thread..

 

[Kunal Biswas]

US as adviser in Japanese ATDX project..

US were part of almost every Japanese Project, Japan have very deep technical connections to US defense companies..

 

[p2prada]

How difficult will it be to outrun a plane with a sub 1000 mile range and a subsonic top speed

The F-35 has as much fuel as the MKI and with less powerful engines. It has excellent range.

How difficult is it to outgun a plane if you have similar BVRAAM capability and better stealth specs. I am not going to comment on F 35's within visual range capabilities.

The sensor suite on F-35 will be a generation ahead. F-35 flies better than a F-16 for WVR, that's pretty good.

How difficult is it to outfly a single engine underpowered sloth of a plane, when the ATDX is based on twin engine 3D thrust vectoring.

It depends on a lot of factors. The F-16 can outfly the F-15 in a WVR fight even though the F-15 has two very powerful engines. F-35 flies even better than the F-16.

I cannot comment on costs, but if the Japanese car industry or any heavy industry is a lead, it would be a fifth of the price os anything American.

The Mitsubishi F-2 which is a modified F-16 costs more than Rafale or EF. It costs 3x that of a regular F-16Block 52 when the purchase was made. Mitsubishi F-15J is no different. When they purchased the F-15 it was over 6 times the actual costs. Something that costed $30Million in the US costed Japan $160Million each in the late 90s.

The ATDX will easily cost half a billion a piece, even if it is just a Gripen/F-16 type fighter.

Also the F35 is a plane that even the US is yet to be totally convinced on.

F-35 has problems that are not unique to it. It's problems have more publicity than other programs, that's all. The base problems of the F-35, initially, was it's low internal payload and low thrust engine. The F-35 could only carry 2 air to air missiles. Today it can carry 4 air to air missiles, which is quite satisfactory. The problem was noted only because F-22 was canceled. Before that 2 air to air missiles was enough. The engine is going to be uprated to 226KN from the current 196. So, that pretty much places it in a T/W ratio above 1 in it's loaded configuration. There is no major problem with the aircraft as long as you know where the aircraft fits in your doctrine. It is a strike fighter first, everything else next. For small airforces it is a good thing. For large air forces, they will need something to complement it.

 

[GromHellscream]

Japanese dont't really care how much their domestic weapons will cost. The primary purposes to build them even in such high prices are A) to offer opportunities for TOT from western countries; B) to keep their R&D teams activated with real operational projects;
They are always well prepared for the day when US loose the strop on their necks.Before that, all their weapon projects will be sensored by US and modified to satisfy the yankees' taste first.If the development of ATDX affect sales of F35 in future, the story of F2 will repeat itself.

 

[SajeevJino]

Japan's indigenous stealth jet prototype 'to fly this year'​

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera has reaffirmed the nation's plan for a 2014 first flight of the Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X) fighter: a prototype for a future fighter to replace the Japan Air Self-Defence Force's Mitsubishi F-2.

"In February I myself visited at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' (MHI's) Komaki Minami plant where the ATD-X is being built," Onodera told the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Upper House on 10 April. "There I was briefed that the first flight will take place this year."

The ATD-X, also known as Shinshin ('Heart of God'), is being developed by the ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), with the main contractor of the project being MHI. It has been designed to be a stealthy air-superiority fighter with enhanced manoeuvrability. The Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) will use it to research advanced technologies and system integration, after which it plans to produce a 'sixth-generation' fighter encompassing i3 (informed, intelligent and instantaneous) concepts and counter-stealth capabilities.

"Originally MHI planned to roll-out the ATD-X before the media in May, soon after Japan's Golden Week holidays, followed by the first test fight," an official at TRDI told IHS Jane's on 15 April. "Now it is several months behind schedule."

Onodera also said in the Diet that the MoD will decide by FY18 whether to build its future stealth fighter domestically or by international joint development, based on parameters such as technological achievements and cost effectiveness.

Japan's plans to develop an 'F-3' from the ADT-X could run into opposition from the United States, however, which has blocked Tokyo's attempts to develop an indigenous fighter in the past.

The 1980s FSX support fighter programme was blocked by Washington, which pressured Tokyo over concerns that the growth of the Japanese aviation industry could damage that of the United States. The pressure eventually led to the co-development of the F-2: a platform based on the Lockheed Martin F-16C.

Officials said that with China and Russia deploying the Chengdu J-20 and Sukhoi PAK-FA T-50 fifth-generation aircraft respectively, Japan's development of a fast stealth fighter is becoming vital to national air defence.

"We know that our 28 radar sites are effective at detecting third- and fourth-generation fighters from a long distance, but with the appearance of fifth-generation fighters we are unsure how they will perform," Lieutenant General Hideyuki Yoshioka, then director of Air Systems Development at the TRDI, told IHS Jane's in November 2011.

The MoD allocated JPY2.7 billion (USD26.5 million) for research on radar and fire control systems able to detect, track and respond to stealth aircraft in FY14.

Japan's indigenous stealth jet prototype 'to fly this year' - IHS Jane's 360

 

[Illusive]

Maybe they should build as a other alternative for their carrier based fleet other than F35, its seems small enough to be used in their small carriers.

 

[Zebra]

When Will Japan's Prototype Fighter Fly?
Aug. 16, 2014 - 03:58PM |
By AARON MEHTA and AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

When Will Japan's Prototype Fighter Fly? | Defense News | defensenews.com

.....But Tokyo might be happy to tweak Beijing by selling jets to Taipei. Chinese government ships and planes have been seen off a set of disputed islands dozens of times since Japan nationalized some of the archipelago nearly two years ago. Japan said last month that its military scrambled fighter jets a record 340 times in the three months to June in response to feared intrusions on its airspace.

Over the past few years, the island nation has been taking a greater interest in projecting regional power. Air Force Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of US Pacific Air Forces, said in a February interview that Japan is more aware of the need to work with partners......

 

[asianobserve]

The Aviationist » Japan’s new stealth jet fighter has been officially unveiled

 

[Ray]

Fantastic is the short answer.

 

[cobra commando]

Japan mulls building its own fighter jets: report | Brahmand News

 

[asianobserve]

Japan throttles up work on homegrown fighter jet - Nikkei Asian Review

 

[cobra commando]

Japan's ATD-X first flight delayed by software glitch - IHS Jane's 360

 

[amoy]

Japan's 5th Generation Stealth Fighter to Take Off Next Month

A prototype of Japan's 5th generation stealth air superiority fighter, the Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin, will make its maiden flight in February, Tokyo-based news magazine The Diplomat reports.

A prototype of the aircraft, developed by the Defense Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), will undergo taxiing and ground trials at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries testing center in Aichi Prefecture, before taking to the skies 'sometime in February'. It will be flying to the Gifu Air Field in neighboring Gifu Prefecture.

According to The Diplomat, the ATD-X program's primary objective "is to develop a research prototype aircraft — an 'advanced technology demonstration unit', to test the capacity of Japan's defense industry to develop, among other things, a powerful fighter engine and various other indigenous stealth fighter aircraft technologies."

Japan's indigenously developed and produced fifth-generation air superiority fighter, designated the F-3, is expected to begin serial production in 2027, although delays on the ATD-X prototype, originally scheduled to be fully developed by 2018 (and to make its maiden flight last year), put this time frame in question.

With the F-3 program starting up in response to the United States' refusal to sell Japan the Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptor back in 2007, Japanese media have also reported that Lockheed-Martin has attempted to undermine the ATD-X's development. Purchasing 42 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in 2011, Japan has indicated that the American planes are an interim solution until Tokyo can develop and produce its own 5th generation fighter.

So far, one full-scale ATD-X prototype has been built.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20160104/1032678717/japan-5th-gen-fighter-trials.html#ixzz3xCKCx3ib

 

[cobra commando]

A prototype of the first Japan- made stealth fighter was unveiled to the media Thursday at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. factory in central Japan. The Defense Ministry’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency displayed the prototype, which was developed by a consortium of domestic companies led by Mitsubishi Heavy, at the plant in the town of Toyoyama, Aichi Prefecture. The fighter will first undergo ground tests before making its maiden flight in mid-February or later. The country’s first domestically made stealth fighter — 14.2 meters long, 9.1 meters wide and 4.5 meters high — is scheduled to fly from Nagoya airport, which is adjacent to the factory, to the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force’s Gifu Air Base in Kakamigahara in neighboring Gifu Prefecture. The agency said the development of a full-scale test model began in fiscal 2009, with costs for the program totaling about ¥39.4 billion (about $331 million). The fighter features stealth capabilities, with the use of carbon fiber absorbing radio waves and making it difficult for radar to detect the aircraft. The agency plans to assess data obtained from the prototype and decide by fiscal 2018 whether to develop domestically or engage in joint international development of aircraft to replace the ASDF’s F-2 fighter.

Japan unveils first homegrown stealth fighter prototype