The Japanese government decided to reduce its dependence on the United States for military aviation. Currently, almost all Japanese combat aircraft are American-made or assembled in Japan with minor Japanese additions.
Tokyo could not persuade Washington to sell him the 5th generation F-22 fighter, and the F-35 is not yet ready, besides, its characteristics are questionable, the constant growth of its value also does not add to its popularity.
Japanese military aircraft construction was frozen after the defeat in World War II. Japanese transport aircraft, including helicopters, were also predominantly US-designed and built by Japanese companies. Buying military equipment, Tokyo required the creation of joint ventures, which were engaged in finalizing the "source code" in accordance with the requirements of the Japanese military. With such a scheme, the final cost of the acquired military equipment turns out to be higher than if it were bought in the United States ready-made, but thanks to joint ventures, the Japanese government maintains its own economy: thus, additional jobs, a stable inflow of investments into the economy, and financing of enterprises are provided.
In 2004, Tokyo decided to build its 5th generation ATD-X Shinshin stealth fighter. The project received the status of a technology demonstrator, and initially it was not planned to accept the ready-made aircraft. It's just that Japan wanted to prove its ability to produce high-tech military equipment in this way. But after the failure of negotiations on the purchase of American Predators, Tokyo began to think about building a full-fledged fighter that could be put into service.
What is known about the project
- The aircraft is being developed by Mitsubishi. In April 2010, the government announced a tender for the supply of jet engines for the ATD-X. Whether the competition ended and who was named the winner is still unknown. According to the requirements, jet engines must have a thrust of 44-89 kilonewtons in non-afterburning mode. The power plants are planned to be modified to install on them a system of all-aspect thrust vector control, which, by the way, is planned to be implemented not with the help of a movable nozzle, but with the help of three wide plates. This technology was first implemented in the United States in 1990 on the Rockwell X-31 aircraft. The Japanese company showed the greatest interest in General Electric F404, Snecma M88-2 and Volvo Aero RM12 engines. Such power plants are used on the Boeing F / A-18 Super Hornet, Dassualt Rafale and Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighters, respectively. Imported engines will be used specifically for testing prototypes, while production fighters will receive XF5-1 engines developed by the Japanese company Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries.
- It is planned to use stealth technologies, including scattering geometric shapes, radio-absorbing materials and widespread use of composites.
- Japanese designers want to introduce the technology of a fiber-optic remote control system with multiple duplication of data exchange channels. Such a solution will allow maintaining control of the aircraft in the event of damage to one of the subsystems, as well as in conditions of electronic suppression.
- It is possible that the ATD-X is planned to implement the self-repairing flight control technology (SRFCC, Self Repairing Flight Control Capability). This means that the on-board computer of the aircraft will automatically determine the damage received and reconfigure the operation of the flight control system by including redundant operational subsystems in the circuit. It is planned that the computer will also determine the degree of damage to various elements of the aircraft structure - ailerons, elevators, rudders, wing surfaces - and adjust the operation of the remaining intact elements in order to almost completely restore the controllability of the fighter. True, how the Japanese designers will manage to do this is not known.
- It is planned to supply a multi-mode radar with an active phased antenna array of a wide spectrum, electronic countermeasures systems, electronic warfare equipment, as well as a unified information exchange system. There are rumors about microwave weapons.
There is information that the first test of the Japanese fighter will be in 2014. If the Japanese have time to create a prototype by this time, then acceptance into service should be expected no earlier than 2018-2020.
Apart from the US reluctance to sell Tokyo Predator, there are other reasons for the creation of the Japanese 5th generation fighter. This is an increase in the power of China, including the testing of a prototype aircraft of the 5th generation, and the development by South Korea, together with Indonesia, of the light fighter KF-X of the generation "4+".
