Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera has reaffirmed the nation's plan for a 2014 first flight of the Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X) fighter: a prototype for a future fighter to replace the Japan Air Self-Defence Force's Mitsubishi F-2.Well this is something.
"In February I myself visited at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' (MHI's) Komaki Minami plant where the ATD-X is being built," Onodera told the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Upper House on 10 April. "There I was briefed that the first flight will take place this year."
The Japanese might develop a more formidable air superiority airplane than the F-35 in a much shorter time.
Wow. When it comes to machines the Japanese don't mess around. This should be interesting. I wonder what will happen if foreign customers start taking an interest in it.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...if the graphic is accurate, that is a very interesting configuration for the weapons bays. Seems a combination of the X-32 & F-15SE. My question would be if there is an additional centerline bay for Air-to-Ground class weapons because I dont see how this thing could carry any bombs. Then again it may become a pure Air Superiority platform to complement the F-35's they are buying which would be the bomb trucks (as they were always intended to be). But again I do hope a center weapons bay is added if for nothing else, to increase the AAM capacity; 4 BVRAAM + 2 WVRAAM's ain't gonna cut it against the Sino Hordes
ReplyDeleteRohan,
DeleteThat's a fan art.
This is the official government supplied image. http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/zap2/imgs/0/7/07ff4cc5.jpg
23DMU has been ruled out, because of the F-3's repositioning as an F-2 replacement which requires two cruise missile carriage.
Oh wow! Thanks for that SlowMan...the 24DMU looks like its got a bit of YF-23 and a bit of T-50 mixed in. The weapons bay positioning is certainly much better. So in this case one would assume the bays have to be big enough to carry the new supersonic anti-ship missile being developed. Very interesting!
Delete2 crew?
ReplyDeleteThe F-3 program is now billed as an F-2 replacement program, not an F-15J replacement program. Japan prefers to merge the F-3 program with the US F/A-XX or F-X program, but will take any other qualified foreign partner willing to share the production output if the US won't commit to a JV by 2018. The F-15Js will now have to be replaced by F-35s, made possible by the new AESA Meteor missile that Japan's co-developing with UK which combines the AESA seeker of AAM-4 missile with the Meteor's ducked rocket, and be integrated into the F-35 to give it a stand-off A2A punch.
ReplyDeleteAccordingly, the current F-3 concepts circulating in Japan looks like a PAK-FA, carrying to supersonic antiship and cruise missiles in central weapons bay. By comparison, Korea's KFX carries two 1.6 ton supersonic antiship/cruise missiles externally, figuring that the longer range of Korean missiles(At least 300 km) negates the needs for stealth. So it will be 2 x 150 km supersonic missiles carried internally(F-3) vs 2 x 300 km supersonic missiles carried externally(KFX).
By the way, Sol, don't know if you've seen this video, but if you're interested in what the Japanese hope the F-3 to be when it's finished it's a good watch. It's from a Japanese source and only a minute long:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ku112uQbhqs