The Japanese concern Mitsubishi received an offer of all-round cooperation from a long-term partner - the American Lockheed Martin. We are talking about the joint creation of a fifth-generation stealth fighter, which is planned to be delivered to the Air Force within 10 years. Japan may become the fourth country (after the United States, Russia and China) to begin testing its own fifth generation fighter.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has received an offer from American Lockheed Martin to jointly develop a stealth fighter. “We provided them with the necessary information (on the project) in accordance with the request made in August. The Japanese aerospace industry has great potential. We are ready for all-round cooperation ", - quotes the head of the American company Marilyn Hewson" Kommersant ".
These two concerns have once already created together the F-4 and F-2 fighters, which now the Japanese Ministry of Defense plans to replace as obsolete. Now in service with the Japanese self-defense forces there are about 130 such vehicles. A fighter with the design name Advanced Technology Demonstrator X is being considered as a replacement. The final development decision is expected no earlier than 2018, and commissioning in this case is expected no earlier than 10 years later.
Note that Mitsubishi has already demonstrated its fifth generation X-2 aircraft in April. Japan became the fourth country (after Russia, the United States and China) to begin testing its own fifth generation fighter.
On the X-2 prototype, it is planned to work out various technologies of the future aircraft: stealth technologies, as well as a glider and an engine, which should provide extremely high maneuverability, and other systems.
Loses T-50 in all respects
The exact characteristics of the prototype of the fifth generation ATD-X Shinshin Japanese fighter, demonstrated by Japan, are not yet known. However, based on the resources available to the Japanese, opinions were expressed that the new Japanese fighter would be inferior to the Russian counterpart - the T-50 (PAK FA) - in terms of stealth, cruising supersonic flight speed, modern electronic equipment, including radar with AFAR, all-round target firing and super-maneuverability. In addition, if Russia plans to put the T-50 into service next year, then the Japanese fighter will turn from a prototype into a real combat vehicle much later.
We will remind, on October 14, the commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev said that next year the Aerospace Forces are expecting the first five T-50s. “Next year we are completing its tests,” Bondarev quoted Interfax as saying.
As you know, the first test flight of the PAK FA took place on January 29, 2010 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. PAK FA is a single-seat attack aircraft, in the design of which composite materials are widely used. According to open data, it will meet the following requirements set by the Aerospace Forces for 5th generation fighters: supersonic flight without afterburner, low visibility for radar, optical, acoustic and other detection systems, super maneuverability and the ability to make relatively short takeoff and landing. The aircraft's performance has not been officially disclosed.
At the moment, the only fifth-generation fighters in service are the American F-22 Raptor and F-35 aircraft.
The Japanese are able to create such an aircraft
Dmitry Drozdenko, deputy editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, recalls that the prototype provided by the Japanese in April was quite general, it is too early to judge any characteristics of the future fifth-generation fighter of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. We can only talk about the financial and technological capabilities of Japanese aircraft manufacturers.
“To begin with, a fifth-generation Air Force fighter must have a number of specific tactical and technical characteristics: the engine of this aircraft must be able to maintain cruising sound speed without the use of afterburners, the aircraft itself must use stealth technology, that is, the technology of partial invisibility for a certain type of radar., and, finally, possess a complex of modern weapons. All other characteristics are entered by different manufacturers at their discretion. So, Russia adds to the characteristics of its own fighter also "super-maneuverability", - Drozdenko told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
As for the Japanese, according to the expert, they have access to modern technologies, and the Japanese aviation industry since the Second World War has enormous potential, in addition, they have sufficient financial resources. “Considering that the American company Lockheed Martin possesses fifth-generation technologies, Japan is capable of creating such a fighter. The combination of Mitsubishi resources, American technology and Japanese perseverance will help create a fifth generation fighter,”he said.
Visible American "invisible men"
Drozdenko also notes that it is difficult to compare the future miracle of the Japanese aircraft industry with Russian and American counterparts, especially since only American aircraft are in operation so far. “The next step is a Chinese fighter, but I would also call it a flying declaration so far. In addition, one should not forget the numerous stories with breakdowns of the F-22 and F-35, when restrictions on the range of use were imposed on the operation of aircraft,”the expert noted.
The expert recalled: although the F-22s seem to have taken part in US operations in Iraq and Syria, given how carefully the Americans treat their latest technology, it is difficult to judge the real experience of their combat use. “It is no coincidence that our commander of the Aerospace Forces in Syria spoke about“Western dreamers”in connection with stealth planes. American fighters are still more psychological than military weapons,”he said.
Drozdenko said that stealth technologies were created by the Americans on the basis of Soviet research and allow the aircraft to remain invisible to the radars of a certain system. “When it turned out that the use of waves of different wavelengths and passive radar technologies made it possible to make the“invisible”visible, the United States removed its first stealth fighters from service,” the expert recalled.
