Japanese Army Replenished With Bombers

the japanese government has officially started a timeline for a new fighter jet designed to maintain an aerial advantage over potential north korean and chinese adversaries the unnamed fighter which will be optimized for air-to-air combat will replace the mitsubishi f-2 fighter jet which was originally based on the american f-16 fighting falcon japan had originally planned to replace its fleet of 200 plus f-15j eagle fighters with the lockheed martin f-22 raptor but the u.s congress fearing a leak of f-22 technology if the plane were sold abroad passed a law to prohibit the jets export the x2 will be used as a technology demonstrator and a research prototype to determine whether domestic advanced technologies for a fifth generation fighter aircraft are viable japan is purchasing 157 f-35 joint strike fighters and will continue to fly approximately 90 mitsubishi f2s a larger more robust version of the f-16 first developed in the 1990s the f2 will age out in the 2030s when the new jet will take its place it is unclear how many planes japan would ultimately build or whether or not it would be offered on an international fighter market given the extreme cost of developing a fighter tokyo will probably try to sell as many jets overseas as possible the twin engine fx will integrate advanced technologies including remote drone control capabilities a vr style helmet mounted display and a radar that can double as a microwave weapon to fry enemy missiles it will be designed to exchange sensory data with japanese and us forces and have a capacity for at least six internally stored weapons including ground to air and anti-ship missiles though air-to-air will be its primary weapon the aircraft features 3d thrust vectoring capability thrust is controlled by the atdx by three paddles on each engine nozzle similar to the system used on the rockwell x-31 while an axis symmetric thrust vectoring engine is also being developed for a full-scale production model among the plan features of the x2 is a flyby optics flight control system which by replacing traditional wires with optical fibers allows data to be transferred faster with immunity to electromagnetic disturbance its radar will be an active electronically scanned array aesa radar called multi-function rs sensor which is intended to have broad spectrum agility capabilities for electronic countermeasures ecm electronic support measures esm communication functions and possibly even microwave weapon functions a further feature will be so-called self-repairing flight control capability which will allow the aircraft to automatically detect failures or damage in its flight control surfaces and using the remaining control surfaces calibrate accordingly to retain controlled flight the x2 was equipped with two xf5 engines for the test flights japan's acquisition technology and logistics agency took the lead the agency built the advanced technology demonstrator or atdx a small-scale demonstrator that flew 34 sorties in 2016 and 17. atla also oversaw 14 other programs developing the underlying technology for an operational stealth fighter focusing on sensors data links and weapons bays in addition to the experimental xf 9-1 engine tokyo toyed with paying a foreign firm to design the f3 lockheed martin proposed a new stealth fighter type combining aspects of the company's f-22 and f-35 ultimately the government decided to go with a japanese design albeit the components from a u.s firm lockheed martin boeing and northrop grumman and uk company bae systems japanese officials have been clear about what they want from the f3 we will emphasize network functions and demand high stealth performance japanese defense minister taro kono said it will carry more missiles than the f-35 the conventional takeoff f-35a in its current configuration can carry just four aim aim-120 air-to-air missiles in its internal bays the f3's range requirement is unclear but it would be surprising if the f3 had a shorter combat radius than the f-35 does 590 miles mitsubishi which has produced all of japan's modern fighters usually under licensed from a foreign firm will build the f3 the japanese air force operates 350 fighters a mix of license built us f4s f-15s and f-35s and japanese designed f2s the f2 in essence is an enlarged f-16 in addition to acquiring 141 f-35s japan is committed to upgrading 102 f-15s meaning it could require as many as 107 f3s if it plans to maintain its fighter inventory that's roughly consistent with the f2 program's 94 plane production run that ended in 2011. if the f2 is any indication those hundred or so f3s will be very very expensive owing to japan's unique requirements its insistence on domestic production and the small production run the f2 ended up costing four times as much per plane as an f-16 does it should shock no one if a single f3 sets back japanese taxpayers several hundred million dollars not coincidentally that's around as much as an f-22 costs but the f-22 program which produced 195 aircraft benefited from greater economy of scale implying that the f3 might actually cost more than the f-22 did for japan it might be worth it the island country has hostile neighbors with their own slowly growing fleets of stealth fighters china operates 39 j-20s and more enter service every year russia is flying the first 10 of its many 76 su-57s japan faces armed pressure from its neighbors japan has territorial disputes with both china and russia and beijing and moscow regularly fly warplanes near japanese airspace to show force north korea although equipped with an aging and largely obsolete air force is armed with nuclear weapons and considers japan an enemy state japanese strategy and military doctrine are changing fast as regional tensions rise pacifism is enshrined in japan's post-war constitution compelling leaders to frame all military capabilities as defensive which is why the japanese navy calls its aircraft carriers helicopter destroyers and why officially the f-13 is strictly an air-to-air fighter count on the f3 eventually carrying cruise missiles however tokyo is investing heavily in the new asm-3 anti-ship missiles and stealthy joint strike missiles that in addition to sinking ships can destroy targets on land in 1941 japan had one of the most sophisticated aircraft industries in the world able to challenge u.s air power with its famous zero fighter just a few years later it was all gone after the second world war u.s occupiers banned aircraft production prohibited aeronautical research and broke up industrial giants such as nakajima and mitsubishi by the time the restrictions were lifted in 1952 the rest of the world had entered the jet age and japan was a bystander in the cold war arms race ever since japan has been trying to find its way back into aerospace with the nation's traditional mainstays of automobiles and electronics under threat from new technologies and competitors emerging in asia the growth and profitability of the aircraft look more and more attractive it's one of the few growth industries the technology level is high and the strength in the aerospace industry has knock-on effects for other industries and for small and medium-sized companies says hiroyuki hatara director of aerospace and defense section in the ministry of economy trade and industry japan has a 70 global market share in carbon fiber materials the wings of the boeing 787 are made in nagoya by mitsubishi heavy industries while kawasaki heavy makes the forward fuselage and subaru provides the center wing box component suppliers include nab tesco which makes actuators sumitomo precision which makes landing gear and panasonic which is a leading provider of in-flight entertainment systems another company wrestling with the conundrum of systems versus components is ihi japan's champion in jet engine business ihi technology is used in engine programs such as the genx the most used engine for the boeing 787 aerospace has grown to become the main pillar of ihis business displacing shipbuilding and other areas of heavy industry the question is where to go from here risk in the engine business is very high says mitsuo imamura head of ihis aerospace research and development for a single company to take on a whole program is extremely difficult he says u.s companies ge and pratt whitney and uk's rolls-royce have the experience of completing engine programs and the links with the aircraft manufacturers ihi's goal is to develop unique technologies that make it a valued partner mr imamura points especially to ihi's use of carbon fiber materials building on japan's broader strength in that field for pratt whitney's pw100g ihi is providing a featherweight fan case built from carbon fiber composites for japan's ministry of defense however ihi has developed a complete engine it recently delivered the xf 9-1 a prototype engine for a future japanese fighter jet the growing military strength of china makes japan all the more determined to retain sophisticated aerospace capabilities of its own however defense officials say japan is now leaning towards joint development of a fighter with another country most likely the u.s because the hurdles in time cost and technology are so high for a homegrown project we hope you liked the video and we want to know which one is your favorite don't forget to give this video a thumbs up and hit the subscribe button and the bell icon down below if you want to make sure to never miss out on important new information like this so you

Channel: ETERN

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Keywords: japan airlines, japan air lines, japan air self-defense force, japan, japanese, starting, f-22, f-22 raptor, technology, future technology, new technology, mitsubishi, chinese, fighter, fighter jet, fighter jets, aircraft, military aircraft, airplane, afraid, japan now

Id: v1eTQwR1yNI

Length: 12min 41sec (761 seconds)

Published: Sat May 01 2021