Japan, being a "seemingly" peace-loving state devoid of any militarism and having a provision in the Constitution prohibiting the use of military force as a political instrument, nevertheless has a powerful military industry and large and well-equipped armed forces, formally considered the Self-Defense Forces.
To characterize the latter, here are a couple of examples.
So, the number of warships in the distant sea and ocean zones of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces exceeds that in all Russian fleets combined. Japan also possesses the largest anti-submarine aircraft in the world after the United States. Neither Britain, nor France, nor any other country other than the United States can even come close to comparing with Japan in this parameter.
And if in terms of the number of basic patrol aircraft the United States surpasses Japan, then who is superior to whom in quality is an open question.
In terms of assessing what the real military-industrial potential of Japan is, a lot of information is provided by one of the most ambitious military projects of this country - the basic Kawasaki P-1 patrol aircraft. The largest, and arguably the most technically advanced anti-submarine and patrol aircraft in the world.
Let's get acquainted with this car.
Having suffered defeat in World War II and being occupied by the United States, Japan for many years lost independence both in its policy and in military development. The latter was reflected, among other things, in the strong "bias" of the Navy of the Self-Defense Forces towards anti-submarine warfare. This "imbalance" did not arise out of nowhere - just such an ally near the USSR was needed by the owners of the Japanese - the Americans. It was required because the Soviet Union was making an equally strong "roll" into the submarine fleet, and in order for the US Navy to fight the Soviet Navy without diverting excessive resources to anti-submarine defense forces, the American satellite Japan raised such forces at its own expense …
Among other things, these forces included base patrol aircraft armed with anti-submarine aircraft.
At first, Japan simply received obsolete technology from the Americans. But in the fifties, everything changed - the Japanese consortium Kawasaki began work on obtaining a license for the production of the P-2 Neptune anti-submarine aircraft already known to the Self-Defense Forces. Since 1965, Japanese-assembled Neptunes began to enter the naval aviation, and until 1982, the Navy of the Self-Defense Forces received 65 of these vehicles assembled in Japan using Japanese components.
Since 1981, the process of replacing these aircraft with P-3 Orion aircraft began. It is these machines that make up the backbone of the Japanese base patrol aircraft to this day. In terms of their tactical and technical characteristics, the Japanese Orions do not differ from the American ones.
However, since the 90s, new trends have appeared in the creation of combat aircraft, including naval ones.
First, the United States has made a breakthrough in methods of radar detection of disturbances on the sea surface generated by a submarine moving under water. This has already been written many times., and we will not repeat ourselves.
Secondly, the methods of processing information collected by the aircraft through various channels - radar, thermal, acoustic and others - have stepped forward. If earlier the operators of the anti-submarine complex had to independently draw conclusions from the analog signals on the radar screens and primitive heat direction finders, and the acoustics had to listen attentively to the sounds transmitted by hydroacoustic buoys, now the on-board computer complex of the aircraft independently "spliced" the signals coming from different search systems, converted them into a graphical form, "cut off" the interference and displayed ready-made zones of the submarine's alleged location to the operators on the tactical screen. It only remained to fly over this point and drop a buoy there for control.
The development of radars has stepped forward, active phased antenna arrays have appeared, in the development and production of which Japan has been and remains one of the world leaders.
It was impossible to upgrade the Orions so that all this wealth could fit on board. The computer complex alone promised to "eat" all the free space inside, and a full-fledged radar of the level that Japan could afford would simply not fit on the plane at all, and in 2001 Kawasaki began work on a new machine.
The project was named R-X.
By that time, the Japanese industry was already cramped within the existing framework, and in addition to the anti-submarine, the Japanese, within the framework of the same project, began to make a transport aircraft partially unified with it - the future C-2, the Japanese replacement for the Hercules. The unification turned out to be rather strange, only for secondary systems, but it didn't matter, because both projects, as they say, turned out.
The project was developed almost simultaneously with the American Boeing P-8 Poseidon, and the Americans offered the Japanese to buy this aircraft from them, but Japan rejected this idea, citing - attention - the inadequacy of the American aircraft to the requirements of the Self-Defense Forces. Considering how perfect the platform was developed "Poseidon" (not to be confused with insane nuclear torpedo), it sounded funny.
On September 28, 2007, R-1 (then still R-X) made its first successful hour-long flight. No noise, no press and no pompous events. Quiet, like everything the Japanese do in terms of increasing their combat capabilities.
In August 2008, Kawasaki had already transferred a test aircraft to the Self-Defense Forces, by that time it had already been renamed XP-1 in the American manner (X is the prefix meaning “experimental”, everything that goes on is the serial index of the future aircraft) … In 2010, the Self-Defense Forces already flew four prototypes, and in 2011, based on the experience gained during testing, Kawasaki repaired and modernized the already built machines (it was necessary to strengthen the airframe and eliminate a number of other shortcomings), and made changes to the documentation for new ones. The aircraft was ready for serial production and it did not take long to wait, and on September 25, 2012, the first serial aircraft for the Maritime Self-Defense Forces took to the skies.
Let's take a closer look at this car.
The aircraft fuselage is built using a large number of composite structures. The wing and aerodynamics in general are optimized for low-speed flights at low altitudes - this distinguishes the aircraft from the American P-8 Poseidon, which operates from medium altitudes. The fuselage itself is jointly created by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (nose section of the fuselage, horizontal stabilizers), Fuji Heavy Industries (vertical stabilizers and wings in general), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (middle and tail sections of the fuselage), Sumimoto Precision products (landing gear).
R-1 is the first aircraft in the world whose EDSU transmits control signals not through digital data buses on stub cables, but through optical fiber. This solution, firstly, accelerates the performance of all systems, secondly, it simplifies aircraft repair if necessary, and thirdly, the optical signal transmitted through the optical cable is much less susceptible to electromagnetic interference. The Japanese position this aircraft as having increased resistance to the damaging factors of nuclear weapons, and the rejection of wires in key circuits of the control system certainly played a role.
The airframe is unique in the sense that it is not a rework of a passenger or cargo vehicle, but was developed from scratch as an anti-submarine. This is an unprecedented decision at present. Now the Japanese are developing other versions of this aircraft, from the "universal" UP-1, capable of carrying any measuring, communication or other equipment, to the AWACS aircraft. The first flight prototype has already been converted into the UP-1 and is being tested. Modern aviation knows no other such example.
In terms of its dimensions, the aircraft is close to a 90-100-seater passenger aircraft, but it has four engines, which is atypical for this class of aircraft and a reinforced structure, which is logical for a specially designed aircraft. The P-1 is significantly larger than the American Poseidon.
The core of the aircraft's sighting and search system is the Toshiba / TRDI HPS-106 AFAR radar. This radar was jointly developed by Toshiba Corporation and TRDI, Technical Research and Development Institute - Technical Design Institute, a research organization of the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
The specificity of this radar is that, in addition to the main antenna with AFAR installed in the nose of the aircraft, it has two more canvases installed along the sides, under the cockpit. Another antenna is installed in the tail section of the aircraft.
The radar is all-mode, and can operate in the aperture synthesis mode, and in the inverse aperture synthesis mode. The characteristics and locations of the antennas provide a 360 degree view at any given time. It is this radar station that "reads" those wave effects on the surface of the water, and above it, thanks to which modern anti-submarine aircraft simply "see" the boat under water. Naturally, the detection of surface targets, periscopes, submarine-fired RDP devices, or air targets for such a radar is not absolutely a problem.
A retractable turret with a FLIR Fujitsu HAQ-2 optoelectronic system is installed in the nose of the aircraft. It is based on an infrared television camera with a target detection range of 83 kilometers. A number of other television cameras are installed on the same turret.
An ordinary magnetometer is installed in the tail of the aircraft - unlike the Americans, the Japanese have not abandoned this search method, although it is rather needed for verification, and not as the main instrument. The aircraft magnetometer responds to a typical steel submarine within a radius of approximately 1.9 kilometers. The magnetometer is a Japanese replica of the Canadian CAE AN / ASQ-508 (v), one of the most efficient magnetometers in the world.
Naturally, in order to instantly convert the signals from the radar, infrared camera and magnetometer into some single intended target, and to draw this intended target on the screens displaying the tactical situation, large computing power is needed and the Japanese have placed a rather large computing complex on the plane, good the sit is here. By the way, this is a powerful trend - they put really big computers on airplanes, and for them it is necessary to foresee in advance both the location and the power supply, work on their cooling and electromagnetic compatibility with other aircraft systems. Poseidon does the same thing.
The cab is equipped with high-quality Japanese-made equipment. It is noteworthy that both pilots have HUDs. For comparison, in Poseidon only the commander has it.
At the same time, the Americans have implemented a blind landing mode, when a virtual image of the terrain over which the aircraft is flying is displayed on the HUD, as if the pilot actually saw it through the window, and relative to this picture, the aircraft is positioned perfectly accurately and without time lags. Thus, in the presence of virtual models of the terrain around the airfield at which the landing is made, the pilot can land the aircraft with absolutely zero visibility and without the help of ground services. For him, there is simply no difference whether there is visibility or not, the computer will give him a picture in any case (if it is stored in the memory for a given location). It is possible that the R-1 also has such functions, at least the computing power on board allows them to be provided.
The aircraft is equipped with a Mitsubishi Electric HRC-124 radio communication system and a Mitsubishi Electric HRC-123 space communication system. The MIDS-LVT communication and information distribution terminal is installed on board, compatible with Datalink 16, with the help of which the aircraft can automatically transmit and receive information from other Japanese and American aircraft, primarily from Japanese F-15J, P-3C, E-767 AWACS, E-2C AEW, deck helicopters MH-60, F-35 JSF.
The "brain" of the aircraft is the Toshiba HYQ-3 Combat Control System, which is the core of the search and targeting system. Thanks to it, there is a "splicing" of disparate groups of sensors and sensors into a single complex, where each element of the system complements each other. Moreover, the Japanese have compiled a huge library of tactical algorithms for performing anti-submarine missions, and have developed "artificial intelligence" - an advanced program that actually does part of the work for the crew, giving out ready-made solutions for finding and destroying a submarine. However, there is also a working post of a tactical coordinator - a living officer capable of commanding an anti-submarine operation, controlling the entire crew based on the data received and processed by the aircraft. It is not known whether there is a radio intelligence operator on board, but, according to the experience of the Americans, this cannot be ruled out. The standard crew of 13 people exclusively for hunting submarines is, frankly, too big.
On the plane, as befits an anti-submarine, there is a supply of sonar buoys, but the Japanese did not copy the American scheme - neither new nor old.
Once upon a time, the Americans loaded buoys into launch silos mounted in the bottom of the fuselage. One mine - one buoy. Such a scheme was needed so that the readjustment of the buoys could be carried out directly in flight, which favorably distinguished the Orion from the Russian Il-38, where the buoys were in the bomb bay and where they could not be tuned to excitement during the flight.
In the new Poseidon, the United States, having mastered new methods of warfare, abandoned this method of staging, limiting itself to three 10-charge rotary launchers and three manual dump shafts. And the Japanese had rotary installations, and mines for manual discharge, and a rack for 96 buoys, and, at the same time, a 30-charge launcher in the bottom of the aircraft, similar to Orion. Thus, the R-1 has certain advantages over its American counterpart.
The aircraft is equipped with the Mitsubishi Electric HLR-109B electronic reconnaissance system, which allows detecting and classifying the radiation of enemy radar stations, and can be used as a reconnaissance aircraft.
The defense system of the Mitsubishi Electric HLQ-9 aircraft consists of a radar exposure warning subsystem, a subsystem for detecting approaching missiles, a jamming complex and fired IR traps.
The aircraft engines are also of interest. Engines, like most aircraft systems, are Japanese, designed and manufactured in Japan. At the same time, interestingly, the Ministry of Defense of Japan was announced as the developer of the engines. The manufacturer, however, is another largest Japanese corporation that produces a huge range of industrial products, including a wide range of aircraft engines. The engine of the F7-10 model has a small size, weight and thrust of 60 kN each. With four such engines, the aircraft has good take-off characteristics and increased survivability compared to a twin-engine aircraft. The nacelles are equipped with sound reflective screens.
In terms of noise level, the aircraft surpassed the Orion - the P-1 is 10-15 decibels quieter.
The aircraft has an auxiliary power unit Honeywell 131-9.
The weapons that an aircraft can carry and use are quite diverse for a patrol car.
The weapon can be located both in a compact weapons compartment in the front of the aircraft (intended mainly for torpedoes), on eight hardpoints, and on removable underwing pylons, the number of which can also reach eight, four per wing. The total mass of the payload is 9000 kg.
The aircraft's missile armament includes the American AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and the Japanese ASM-1C subsonic anti-ship missiles.
The recently adopted supersonic "three-fly" ASM-3 anti-ship missile system has not been declared as part of the aircraft's weapons, but this should not be ruled out. To defeat small targets at a short distance, the aircraft can carry the AGM-65 Maverick missile launcher, also of American production.
Torpedo armament is represented by the American small-sized anti-submarine torpedoes Mk. 46 Mod 5, some of which, perhaps, still remain with the Japanese, and the Japanese Type 97 torpedoes, caliber 324 mm, like the American torpedo. The future torpedo, now being developed under the designation GR-X5, has already been announced in advance in the armament. There is no information that the plane can use torpedoes equipped with a planning device, like the Americans, but this cannot be ruled out, given the complete identity of the Japanese and American communication protocols on which military electronics and weapon suspension devices work. It is also possible to use depth charges and sea mines from an aircraft. It is not known whether the aircraft is adapted to use depth charges with a nuclear warhead.
Interestingly, the Japanese seem to have abandoned the use of in-flight refueling. On the one hand, the flight range of 8000 km makes it possible to do this, on the other hand, it reduces the search time, which is an extremely negative factor. One way or another, the plane cannot take fuel in the air.
All P-1s are currently based at Atsugi Air Force Base in Kanagawa Prefecture.
As you know, as part of the militarization course, Japan plans to abandon a significant part of the restrictions on its own military-technical development in 2020. Both Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and members of his cabinet have talked about this more than once. As part of this approach, Japan has more than once offered a new aircraft for export (while Japan's export of weapons is prohibited by its own Constitution). But it is still impossible to defeat the American Poseidon - both in terms of political factors and technical ones, Poseidon is at least in some ways simpler, but apparently wins in terms of the cost of the life cycle. However, the history of the P-1 is just beginning. Experts are confident that the R-1 will be one of the means by which Japan will fight its way into the world arms markets, along with the Soryu-class submarines equipped with an air-independent power plant and the US-2 ShinMayva seaplane.
It was originally planned that 65 such aircraft would be ordered. However, after receiving the first 15 cars, purchases stopped. The last time the Japanese government substantively discussed an increase in production was in May 2018, but a decision has still not been made. In addition to the P-1, Japan has 80 modernized American-made P-3C Orions.
It is all the more surprising that the Chinese submarine fleet is growing. It is a common belief of any analyst working on the military development of Asian states that the growth of Japanese military power is a response to the growth of that of China. But for some reason, there is no correlation between the development of the Chinese submarine and the Japanese base patrol aircraft, as if in reality Japan has a different adversary in mind. However, as Ryota Ishida, a high-ranking employee of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, announced in the spring of 2018, up to 58 vehicles will sooner or later be put into service "in the long term," but now Japan has no plans to increase the number of anti-submarine defense aircraft.
One way or another, the Kawasaki P-1 is a unique program that will still leave its mark on the Japanese naval aviation. And it is quite possible that this plane will also fight.
To know, against whose submarines.
