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....Alright, not really, but they are working on a purely Japanese-developed fighter jet. And let's face it, if they can pull it off then they really do need to come good on their debt to the world of some sort of transforming robot. :)
Or to get serious again, it will be interesting to see what Japanese tech and innovation can produce.
It looks remarkably like an F-18 Hornet to me?
Before any definite Japanese stealth fighter the ATD-X is going to act more as a technology demonstrator.
Pretty sure it's just going to be a fairly mediocre multi role. At best it will compete with the current fifth gen fighters but overall be a lightweight short range more in line with just a step ahead of 4th gen and finally be in service when everyone else is looking to sixth generation fighters.
With regard to transforming robots; while cool, does not have the additional functionality to justify a multi billion dollar unit which may be taken out by something like a foot soldier with a Javelin and at worst plagued by mechanical and electronic faults and finally taken out by a yobbo in his home clothes with a couple hundred dollar RPG. :P
"In December 2011, Japan picked Lockheed Martin’s new F-35A stealth fighter as its next fighter aircraft, to replace its aging F-4 “Kai” Phantom fleet. The F-35 was actually their 2nd choice.
Back in February 2006, Inside The Air Force (ITAF) reported that momentum was building within the USAF to sell the ultra-advanced F-22A Raptor abroad to trusted US allies, as a way of increasing numbers and production. Japan clearly wanted them, and the Raptor was a topic of diplomatic discussions in several venues, including a 2007 summit meeting. In the end, however, US politics denied export permission for downgraded export variants of the F-22, and its production line was terminated. That left Japan looking at other foreign “F-X” fighter options in the short term, while they considered a domestic stealth fighter design as their long-term project.
In the ensuing F-X competition, the F-35 Lightning II beat BAE’s Eurofighter Typhoon, as well as an upgraded F/A-18E Super Hornet from Boeing."
Interesting article from Defense Industry Daily going over the choice of different fighters and the reason behind the eventual selection of the notorious F-35.
On the ATD-X, "Japan hopes the Advanced Technology Demonstrator eXperimental (ATD-X) will lead to a larger high-performance production aircraft with low-observable (stealthy) qualities, designed and built indigenously sometime in the next decade. New technologies that the ATD-X will test include a second generation AESA radar, advanced "fly-by-fiber-optic" flight control system that can compensate for battle damage and control surface failures, an advanced ESM and ECM suite, thrust vectoring and locally developed high-thrust turbofan engines to name a few."
"The single ATD-X aircraft, about the size of a Saab Gripen, is undergoing ground tests, says the defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), the sponsor of the program. TRDI is due to fly the ATD-X this year, beginning an evaluation program that will run until 2016. The aircraft has been built to demonstrate technologies—including stealth shaping, skin sensors and fly-by-light controls—that the ministry hopes to apply in its next fighter development program (AW&ST Aug. 6, 2007, p. 26).
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That's going to be some aircraft to be sure .Quote:
Originally Posted by Galant
That's going to be some aircraft to be sure .Quote:
Originally Posted by Galant