Japan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Bltizo said:

If a product can fulfill its missions required for it, then it is effective, agreed.

However, one must also consider the capability of similarly sized products to determine whether it is "competitive," a purely academic view.

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SamuraiBlue said:

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It's an interesting read if you have the time.
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adeptitus said:

With quad-packed missiles, ships was fewer VLS cells can now carry large numbers of SRSAM and MRSAM. A single 8-cell VLS armed with quad-packed ESSM, will provide just as many MRSAM for local area AD as a 054A with 32 cells HQ-16.

the FREMM with 32 VLS cells. It has similar tonnage to the Akizuki, but not equipped with quad-packed SAM -- the Aster-15 is not quad packed and no customer has ordered the quad-packed Crotale VL missiles.

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the SYLVER’s cells are only 22 inches wide, 3 inches less than the MK41’s.

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Military Factory said:

Japan is in the process of developing an indigenous 5th Generation Fighter concept under the ATD-X "Shinshin" designation. The initiative is branded under the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry label - who also produces the Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon locally - and headed by the Japanese Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute (abbreviated as "TRDI"). The ATD-X is a concept demonstrator-only design and not intended for formal serial production of a 5th Generation Fighter. However, any data collected during its testing would most certainly be used in a future 5th Gen attempt. The ATD-X program, like other 5th Gen initiatives worldwide, is, of course, at the mercy of defense funding by the Japanese government. As such, the program may not expand beyond the paper stage or may meet its scheduled first flight in 2014. This may prove highly optimistic and a first flight of 2015 is more likely.

The ATD-X initiative was born from the rebuffed attempt by the Japanese to procure the advanced F-22 Raptor from the US government.

The preliminary Shinshin concept envisions a faceted airframe in the mold begun by the American Lockheed F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter. The design positions a powerful Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) scanning radar system under a nose cone assembly ahead of the cockpit in the usual way. The fuselage is well-blended into the wings while sharp angles are specially used throughout. Assuming a twin engine design, the ATD-X will sport twin rectangular intakes to either side of the cockpit. Wings will include main appendages and tailplanes as normal with outward-canted vertical tail fins at the rear. The engines will exhaust through specially-designed low-profile, low-signature exhaust ports (thrust vectoring is envisioned) under and between each rudder. Unlike 4th Generation Fighters relying on fly-by-wire control, the ATD-X is slated for the newer, speedier fly-by-optics control system. Also intended for the ATD-X demonstrator is an onboard self-repair facility which will be able to detect and, to the best of its ability, diagnose and repair failed/failing control systems. The undercarriage will be wholly retractable. In keeping with the low-signature, low-profile nature of 5th Gen Fighters, the Shinshin will be developed with an internal weapons bay, radar absorbing coatings for its skin and advanced technologies throughout.

In addition to the airframe, engines remain the other half of the 5th Generation Fighter challenge and this challenge has been handed to Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) for possible development and production of new powerplant (IHI XF5-1 turbofans) with up to 20,000lbs thrust. It is assumed that, like the groundbreaking F-22, the ATD-X will feature "supercruise" support which allows for reaching supersonic flight without use of thirsty (and missile-guiding) afterburner.

A mockup of the ATD-X was unveiled in 2005 while a compact remote-controlled demonstrator mimicking the expected Shinshin design was tested in 2006. The project was authorized with proper funding in 2007. Should the ATD-X program yield an indigenous Japanese 5th Gen development, the upcoming production series aircraft will be given the designation of Mitsubishi F-3 in following the F-2 (F-16) and the original Cold War-era F-1.

As it stands (2013), the ATD-X is expected to have a running length of 46.5 feet, a wingspan of 30 feet and an overall height of 14.8 feet. Maximum take-off weight is estimated at 28,660lbs. Projected straight-line speeds reach Mach 2.

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Aviation Week said:

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is already building a small airframe technology demonstrator, the ATD-X Shinshin, which the ministry expects to test in the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2014. Mitsubishi Heavy is also very likely to build the F-3, which Japanese officials expect will carry a pilot.

IHI Corp. is to develop a technology-demonstrator engine of 15 metric tons (33,000 lb.) thrust, according to an official document seen by Aviation Week.

Full-scale development would begin in 2016 or 2017 and the first prototype would fly in 2024-25, according to the ministry's plans. Series production is to begin in 2027 and the type would begin replacing Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 strike fighters in the first half of the 2030s. In the second half of that decade it would begin replacing Boeing F-15Js. The F-15s are older but are likely to remain the mainstay of Japan's air-defense squadrons, with suitable upgrades.

The ministry's plans are evidently firming up, and broadly match a road map for fighter development set out by Japanese industry in 2010. The industry proposal, though, included production of an imported aircraft—now determined to be the F-35—until 2028. While production of the confirmed batch of F-35s, which will replace F-4EJ Kai Phantoms, could not feasibly be stretched until 2028, it is possible that some F-15s could be replaced earlier by additional F-35s before F-3s replace the rest.

The power of the IHI demonstrator engine is surprising. It would generate 50% more thrust than the General Electric F414, two of which power the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The Super Hornet's thrust is not notably high for its empty mass, 14.6 tons (32,100 lb.), but in a twin-engine installation the output of the IHI demonstrator would be abundant for a larger, budget-straining aircraft. It does seem that Japan is looking for a twin aircraft.

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