Japanese Experimental Stealth Fighter

Holy moly, has anyone else heard that Japan is working on an experimental stealth fighter? Evidently they plan to have a prototype flying is as little as 5 years. Sounds like a very short time but perhaps they have been working on it for awhile.

It looks a lot like the plane from Firefox.

Check out the photo at:

http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/redirect.p ... o=lastpost

Mike

Bears an uncanny resemblance to the Iranian Shafaq mock-up? Guess everyone is at it now as far as Stealth goes.Not many international designs actually flying at the moment though. They all look good on paper and in plywood!

Bears an uncanny resemblance to the Iranian Shafaq mock-up? Guess everyone is at it now as far as Stealth goes.Not many international designs actually flying at the moment though. They all look good on paper and in plywood!

Sure, but the Japanese do have a proven capacity to design and build advanced military equipment like the KH-X, P-X, and of course the F-2 (with lots of help from LM). I have significantly less faith in the Iranians' capabilities.

I wonder if anyone else has any projected or designed performance information. The -22 has a lot more going for it then stealth. I had the luck to see it at the Toronto air show this summer. WOWWWW. Let the Sukhoi's eat dust!

Sure, but the Japanese do have a proven capacity to design and build advanced military equipment like the KH-X, P-X, and of course the F-2 (with lots of help from LM). I have significantly less faith in the Iranians' capabilities.

I wonder if anyone else has any projected or designed performance information. The -22 has a lot more going for it then stealth. I had the luck to see it at the Toronto air show this summer. WOWWWW. Let the Sukhoi's eat dust!

The US won`t let Japan "have" the `22. Building their own with a little help from LM may be an alternate path? They are capable of building a fighter in isolation but will it be an F-22 equivalent? No tech` specs as the Japanese defence ministry is saying nothing.

That Iranian one looks like the MAKO trainer that EADS were kicking about a few years ago.

From what I read in Air Power International, it seems that neither the US nor Japan were keen to collaborate on the KH-X due to experience with the F-2. Perhaps this reduces the chances that they'll do so on this project.

There are some curious aspects about this design. The canopy looks like it'd offer really poor rearward visibility - odd for an air superiority fighter. It looks kinda like the SU-32 in this regard. Also, the plan view shows that most rear-facing edges are perpendicular to the flight path - something I wouldn't expect to see in a stealth design. Currently, the engines appear to feature a 3-paddle thrust vectoring design, again, something not likely to be stealthy, but I'm sure there will be lots of changes before any design is finalized.

Mike

How old is that "mockup" now? And in "5 years"? Heh, clock's tickin.

Watch this video of the Mitsubishi ATD-X

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g94C5CNIPOQ

Looks like a whole lot of smoke and mirrors to me. They have a semi-impressive full size mock-up but no demonstration of any technology involved other than the 3-vector exhaust in an non-installed motor. Not to mention doesn't it seem just a bit off to build a mock-up first and then put the tech in?

They will be progressing to the development of the avionics and turbofans later on. Then a handful of prototypes will be built and test-piloted. Later on, they will be operational.

I like how they got a nun to test fly it. never know when you might need a little divine intervention...

Mitsubishi ATD-X looks very cool... Although I'd like to see the VF-1 Valkyrie being produced!