Japan's indigenous stealth jet prototype 'to fly this year'
janes.com
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.
"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 ATD-X, also known as Shinshin ('Heart of God'), is being developed by the ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), with the main contractor of the project being MHI. It has been designed to be a stealthy air-superiority fighter with enhanced manoeuvrability. The Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) will use it to research advanced technologies and system integration, after which it plans to produce a 'sixth-generation' fighter encompassing i3 (informed, intelligent and instantaneous) concepts and counter-stealth capabilities.
"Originally MHI planned to roll-out the ATD-X before the media in May, soon after Japan's Golden Week holidays, followed by the first test fight," an official at TRDI told IHS Jane's on 15 April. "Now it is several months behind schedule."
Onodera also said in the Diet that the MoD will decide by FY18 whether to build its future stealth fighter domestically or by international joint development, based on parameters such as technological achievements and cost effectiveness.
Japan's plans to develop an 'F-3' from the ADT-X could run into opposition from the United States, however, which has blocked Tokyo's attempts to develop an indigenous fighter in the past.
The 1980s FSX support fighter programme was blocked by Washington, which pressured Tokyo over concerns that the growth of the Japanese aviation industry could damage that of the United States. The pressure eventually led to the co-development of the F-2: a platform based on the Lockheed Martin F-16C.
Officials said that with China and Russia deploying the Chengdu J-20 and Sukhoi PAK-FA T-50 fifth-generation aircraft respectively, Japan's development of a fast stealth fighter is becoming vital to national air defence.
"We know that our 28 radar sites are effective at detecting third- and fourth-generation fighters from a long distance, but with the appearance of fifth-generation fighters we are unsure how they will perform," Lieutenant General Hideyuki Yoshioka, then director of Air Systems Development at the TRDI, told IHS Jane's in November 2011.
The MoD allocated JPY2.7 billion (USD26.5 million) for research on radar and fire control systems able to detect, track and respond to stealth aircraft in FY14.
航空自衛隊はF-2戦闘機の次世代戦闘機のプロトタイプ、最先端技術のデモンストレーター X (ATD X戦闘機)の2014年中の初飛行を国の計画としている、という事を日本の防衛大臣小野寺五典は明らかにしました。
「2 月に私はATD X が構築されている三菱重工業 （MHI） 小牧南工場場所に訪問した」と小野寺防衛大臣は4 月 10 日の外交および防衛委員会の参議院で語った。
「そこで私は初飛行は今年行われるという説明を受けた」ATD X、心神とも呼ばれ防衛省とプロジェクトの主要な業者の三菱重工業による技術的な研究と開発研究所 （本部） によって開発されています。
強化された機動性システムとステスル性を重視した戦闘機に設計されており。
防衛省は第 6 世代戦闘機の包括的な i3概念とカウンター ステルス機能という高度な技術とシステム統合研究に心神を作りました。
「元々三菱重工計画では最初の試験の飛行の後5月のゴールデンウィーク後直ぐにメディアの前で発表する予定でした」と 4 月 15 日にIHS本部で公式に語った。
「そして其の計画は今数ヶ月遅れています」小野寺防衛大臣は技術の成果と費用対効果のパラメータに基づき、将来のステルス戦闘機FX-18を国内または国際共同開発にするか判断するとした。
しかし、F3であるADT xの開発も米国からの反対にあう可能性があります。
事実過去に独自戦闘機を開発する東京の試みを止められています。
1980 年代日本航空業界の成長がアメリカ合衆国の懸念から FSX 支援戦闘機プログラムはワシントンが東京に圧力をかけ止め、最終的にロッキード マーチン社のF-16C ベースにしF 2 の共同開発に最終的に導きました。
「（中略）」
http://www.janes.com/article/36713/japan-s-indigenous-stealth-jet-prototype-to-fly-this-year
