Lockheed to Offer new Fighter to Japan Using Hybrid of F-22 & F-35 Tech

dingding. Rematch?

Northrop Grumman Corp is eyeing a Japanese jet fighter project that could pit it against Lockheed Martin Corp, three sources said, almost three decades after it lost a similar competition to build an advanced stealth jet for the U.S. Air Force.

www.reuters.com... m-sources-idUSKBN1JW0YU

a reply to: anzha
Your link to the Reuters story doesnt get to the page, this might work though. Reuters story

a reply to: thebozeian

thank you.

The Lockheed offering is currently higher than the Japanese government wants to pay. The government wants the price to be around 15 Billion Yen (the F-35 is about 13.1B), but the Lockheed offering is at $177M per copy, which would put it over 20B Yen.

www.yomiuri.co.jp...

a reply to: Zaphod58

lol.

ok, quick draw. You dun up and out drew me.

This may not be a good thing. While it is good that there is some business going on, however, with the way that the current administration is going, there could be a snag, and that would be how tariffs are being applied. While it is congress who can issue such, the President can levy them and claim it was in the interest of National security.

a reply to: anzha

a reply to: anzha

Good for Lockheed. I am retired from Lockheed in Marietta Georgia. 26 years with Them in various jobs/positions. I started doing wire prep, building wire harness, form boards termination. That and installation in aircraft 10 years hourly, 16 years in Instrumentation Flight Test Salaried. Fully company funded pensions. I can't make that break go away.

a reply to: sdcigarpig
Sorry I dont follow, what has hypothetical tariffs got to do with LM offering an aircraft to Japan? Highly unlikely that either Trump or the US Congress would put a tariff on something that are exports as opposed to the usual subject of tariffs which are imports. What do you mean?

a reply to: Zaphod58
Best course of action then is to get someone else onboard who wants in as well, not to mention play LM off against the NG bid that is in the works (it will be interesting to see what exactly they offer. I'm hoping for a follow on from the Black Widow II). IIRC $177M a copy is very close to the price of the Raptors was it not? I can see this aircraft being potentially very useful to the US and possibly a couple of others in the Pacific region.

a reply to: thebozeian

Simple, based on what is going on there are parts and components for these planes that are not made in the USA but else where that are getting tariffs placed on them. Combined with that Japan is considering placing its own tariffs on US goods in response to the tariffs that Trump has placed on goods from Japan. In short this deal is in danger of falling apart from the reckless implanting of tariffs by Trump that is a growing storm in the economic world.

a reply to: sdcigarpig

Except that the aircraft will be assembled in Japan, and they can and probably will waive any tariffs because any portions of the aircraft imported will be for a national security program.

a reply to: Zaphod58

What do you think the likelihood of it being that this bird will have the planform of the F-22, but use the export safe composites and RAM they came up with for the F-35?

a reply to: anzha

That's exactly what my thought was. Something large, with a lot of range, and designed for air superiority, but since they already have the F-35 and FACO it makes sense to lean heavily on that program.

a reply to: sdcigarpig
Off topic for a second, but blaming Trump (regardless of how unpalatable he is) for tariffs is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500, pointless and hypocritical when everyone else has been doing it.

On topic, I would imagine we are looking at a large airframe based on the F-22 and therefore why I think the NG bid may be based on the YF-23. Range for Japan is key here and a large airframe with possibly three stream engines combined with the F-35's avionics would be a killer. I'll note though that from what I have read the RAM coatings developed for the F-35 are if anything superior to the Raptors so we could see a slight decrease in Db over the legacy F-22 if the same airframe shape is used. Thats why I maintain that if they can find more money the USAF may make a purchase to bolster the F-22 fleet and reinforce its JSF's, particularly in regard to China in the Asia-Pacific region.

a reply to: thebozeian

Won't happen with regards to bolstering. They're already starting work on F-XX and F/A-XX. That's going to be a big program.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Are they calling the PCA the F-XX again now or are they separate still?

It's an interesting time for new aircraft. We have the F-XX, the FA-XX, the Italio-British Tempest, the Franco-German FCAS, whatever the Tornado replacement is going to be, the B-21, the J-15 replacement, the J-20, the J/FC-31, whatever the VSTOL China is working on, the H-20, the Dark Sword, the Shadow Star, the Su-57, the supposed MiG-41, the PAK-DA and whatever the hell else I am missing.

geez.

For a very boring 90s and Oughts, we now get a gluttonous feast.

a reply to: anzha

PCA is probably not going to be a dedicated airframe, but they still haven't laid out the road map.

a reply to: Zaphod58

But their budget trajectory screams demonstrators, if the B-21 is any guide.

a reply to: anzha

Yep, which is half the fun. But I'm hearing interesting things regarding PCA and where it might be heading.