Japan unveils stealth fighter mock-up

www.flightglobal.com...

Japan's defence ministry unveiled the first full-sized mock-up of the ATD-X stealth fighter demonstrator at Japan Aerospace 2008. The country has decided against proceeding with the development stage of the programme in the next financial year, and instead continues to fund studies into the aircraft.

[edit on 6/10/08 by Harlequin]

Sexy looking plane I must say from this angle. Must see more angles!
-Thanks for the update Har

Ah ha found some stuff
bp1.blogger.com...

bp2.blogger.com...

img152.imageshack.us...

I feel like I've seen these images floating around for awhile though?

[edit on 6-10-2008 by Canada_EH]

Originally posted by Canada_EH
I feel like I've seen these images floating around for awhile though?

Same here. I'm pretty sure there is a thread (or two) about this on the Aircraft forum.

Still thought, Japan would prefer to get the Raptor instead of pursuing a costly and protracted development of it's own next-gen fighter.

Wrangling Over the Raptor

aye i`ve seen the images as well before - looks like this is the offical `unveiling and killing` of the programme though

edit:

you dont think boeing will try and jump the gun with there stealthy F-15: the above has strong tones of the eagle in the shape - imo ofc

[edit on 6/10/08 by Harlequin]

The 2nd link I showed is very eagleish. The wings shape, twin tail shapes. I diff agree with that Har but I have no problem with that as what better platform to base a good air superiority fighter off of.

Kinda looks like an F-18 to me. Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that Japan's constitution didn't let them have a offense military. Wouldn't a steath attack aircraft fall into an offense definition?

I assume its open to interpretation.

Air Superiority can be viewed as defense.

This looks like the best attempt at stealth by any other country than the US. I think they should build it.

Everything can be interpreted as defense. You know - the best defense is attack. This can make really everything defensive, also ICBMs, attack submarines, ....

And this plane is really interesting. It does look like Eagle, but it's really one of the best platforms for air superiority. Only the forward fuselage and nose are completely different.

I also heard, that the Japan first wanted to buy Raptors, but was refused and then tried to produce an indigenous fighter, but the U.S. companies and government intervened and what came out is this aircraft. Many of its components will be made in the U.S., by U.S. companies...

Correct me, if I'm wrong, maybe it was for another Japan's aircraft, but I'm pretty sure it was a stealth air superiority fighter...

Originally posted by sovietman
Correct me, if I'm wrong, maybe it was for another Japan's aircraft, but I'm pretty sure it was a stealth air superiority fighter...

Huh Sorry I don't understand your last bit. Are you talking about the fact of part production in the US? If so I don't think I ever heard anything in regards to this model. The F-2 model I'm sure would of had parts made in the States though.

reply to post by Canada_EH


Sorry, my English isn't perfect...

What I meant was, that I definitely heard the story about a Japanese fighter. It said, that Japan wanted to produce an indigenous fighter, but the U.S. government wanted to have American companies involved in the production. So the F-15-like model was chosen and many parts will be produced in the U.S.
I'm just not sure if this is the fighter we are talking about...

I hope I made myself clear...

Mitsubishi Stealth

Rcsmodel The Mitsubishi 3000GT sports car was sold in the US as the Dodge Stealth, but now the company has moved up to the real thing.

Japan's Technical Research & Development Institute (TRDI) recently unveiled images of the Mitsubishi ATD-X stealth fighter in the form of a full-scale radar cross-section (RCS) model. One picture was released a few months ago by TRDI, but has now disappeared from their site. Other images can be found here. They include a presentation slide confirming that France has been supporting the Japanese stealth program: between September and November 2005, the model was tested in the French government's radar cross-section (RCS) range. Other features of the twin-engine jet include thrust vectoring with external paddles, an F-22-like external shape, fly-by-light controls and the testing of a smart-skin sensor.

aviationweek.typepad.com...

[edit on 12/23/2008 by clay2 baraka]

Does anyone get the odd feeling that with all this new hardware of war being announced all over the place, that perhaps nations are doing the "pre-game show" for the big game?

Sure seems like it to me. And I dont think they plan to be playing World Football III either.



Cheers!!!!

Am I the only one who thinks this looks very much like the US F-22???

A mockup is not even a preproduction working unit.

With the world economy tanking, I wonder if Japan will be able to afford to build these craft???

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
Am I the only one who thinks this looks very much like the US F-22???

A mockup is not even a preproduction working unit.

With the world economy tanking, I wonder if Japan will be able to afford to build these craft???

They were denied a purchase request of the F-22 and decided that they would have to build their own version of the Raptor.

The reason that it looks like an F-15 with F-22 features is that they have experience working with the F-15 airframe.

The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) is the biggest foreign user of the F-15, and Japan is the only license-builder of the type.