New JASDF Stealth Fighter Jet to be "Made In Japan"

Not your grandfather's Mitsubishi...
The words "Mitsubishi fighter" still have the power to send a chill down the spines of American war history buffs. It was, after all, just 65 years ago that the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" ruled the skies over the Pacific by outclassing the vast majority of Allied WW2 fighter planes sent to oppose it. (above drawing by J. P. Santiago)

...but gramps sure would be proud!
Now it seems that a descendant of the legendary Zero fighter may soon be stretching its wings across the skies of Japan - and perhaps further afield. Alarmed by new developments in stealth fighter aircraft technology displayed by traditional adversaries China and Russia, JASDF (Japan Air Self-Defense Forces) planners have been attempting to acquire the American F-22 Raptor jet fighter to replace their current F-15 Eagle fighter planes.

The F-22 Raptor is packed with the latest avionics and stealth technology but its high tech features have the Pentagon concerned about security leaks.

Stealthy, speedy and made in Japan
Even though the United States would lose out financially by not selling Japan the F-22, security issues are front & center these days and Japan is now looking to its own aircraft designers to provide a home-grown solution.

If the history of Japan is any guide, we can expect a more than respectable match for the F-22, F-19 or other state of the art jet fighters to eventually roll off the Mitsubishi production lines.

"Son of Zero", resplendent in carbon fiber
The process may already be in motion - on August 9, the above photo was taken of what may be Japan's next-generation stealth fighter jet. The 46 foot long carbon fiber mock-up was designed and built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, builder of the Zero and many other WW2 fighter planes, at their Komakiminami Factory in Aichi prefecture.

Tokyo Moves Closer to Buying a New Generation of Jet Fighters

TOKYO—Japan moved a step closer to buying a new generation of jet fighters Monday after it accepted bids by three of the world's biggest defense contractors for what is expected to be a deal worth several billion dollars.

In line with a Japanese government deadline, the country's Defense Ministry received bids from Boeing Co. for the company's F-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin Corp. for its F-35 Lightning II JSF and Eurofighter GmbH for its Typhoon fighter, a ministry spokesman said.

The bids were formally submitted to Japan by the U.S. government in the case of the F-18 and F-35, and by the British government, along with BAE Systems PLC and trading house Sumitomo Corp., for Eurofighter.

Enlarge Image

Reuters

F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), planes

Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa has said he expects a final decision by December as part of the government's budgetary discussions for fiscal 2012.

The next-generation fighter program, dubbed the FX in Japan, will likely call for the purchase of about 40 to 60 planes in a deal expected to total about $4 billion, industry officials said.

The project has been delayed for years as successive administrations have sought more time to ponder Japan's military needs amid declining defense budgets and rapid advances in aviation technology.

The latest delay in the FX program came earlier this year when the ministry, which had been expected to start vetting bids in March, postponed the process an additional six months because of the March 11 disasters.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have both said they are willing to localize at least part of their production in Japan in order to sweeten their bids. Japanese industry circles have called on the government to insist on a localized manufacturing component, most likely through a major contractor.

The new fighter will replace the Japanese Air Self Defense Force's 70 aging F-4 fighters made by McDonnell Douglas, which is now part of Boeing, using technology dating from the 1960s.

The rest of Japan's 361 operational combat aircraft include 202 1980s-era McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighters produced under license by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and 89 newer F-2 fighters manufactured jointly by Lockheed Martin and Mitsubishi Heavy, and which are based on F-16 technology from the 1990s.

Fourth generation jet fighter

Lockheed Martin F-16.

Dassault Mirage 2000.

Aircraft classified by the United States government as fourth-generation jetfighters are those in service approximately from 1980 to 2010, representing the design concepts of the 1970s.

Fourth-generation designs are heavily influenced by lessons learned from the previous generation of combat aircraft. Long-range air-to-air missiles, originally thought to make dogfighting obsolete, proved less influential than expected precipitating a renewed emphasis on maneuverability. Meanwhile, the growing costs of military aircraft in general and the demonstrated success of aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom II gave rise to the popularity of multirole fighters in parallel with the advances marking the so-called fourth generation.

During the period in question, maneuverability was enhanced by relaxed static stability, made possible by introduction of the fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system (FLCS), which in turn was possible due to advances in digital computers and system integration techniques. Analog avionics, required to enable FBW operations, became a fundamental requirement and began to be replaced by digital flight control systems in the latter half of the 1980s.^[1]

The further advance of microcomputers in the 1980s and 1990s permitted rapid upgrades to the avionics over the lifetimes of these fighters, incorporating system upgrades such as AESA, digital avionics buses and IRST. Due to the dramatic enhancement of capabilities in these upgraded fighters and in new designs of the 1990s that reflected these new capabilities, the US government has taken to using the designation 4.5th generation to refer to these later designs. This is intended to reflect a class of fighters that are evolutionary upgrades of the 4th generation incorporating integrated avionics suites, advanced weapons efforts to make the (mostly) conventionally designed aircraft nonetheless less easily detectable, and trackable as a response to advancing missile and RADAR technology, see stealth technology.^[2][3] Inherent airframe design features exist, and include masking of turbine-blades and application of advanced sometimes radar-absorbent materials, but not the distinctive low-observable configurations of the latest aircraft, dubbed fifth-generation fighters or craft such as the F-117 and B-2.

The United States Government defines 4.5 generation fighter aircraft as fourth generation jet fighters that have been upgraded with AESA radar, high capacity data-link, enhanced avionics, and "the ability to deploy current and reasonably foreseeable advanced armaments."