Air Superiority: Japan stealth jet prototype set to fly in 2014
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Japan is looking to join the ranks of the US, China and Russia’s aviation industry with a stealth fighter that senior Japanese air force officials say can be ready for a prototype test flight 2014.
Japan is looking to join the ranks of the US, China and Russia’s aviation industry with a stealth fighter that senior Japanese air force officials say can be ready for a prototype test flight 2014.
The prototype will likely be able to fly in 2014, Lt. Gen. Hideyuki Yoshioka, director of air systems development at Japan’s Ministry of Defense, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
He also stated, Japan has put 39 billion yen (US$473 million) into the project since 2009, after it became clear the United States was not likely to sell it the F-22 “Raptor” — America’s most advanced fighter jet — because of a congressional export ban.
“We are two years into the project, and we are on schedule,” Yoshioka said Monday.
However, Yoshioka stressed that a successful test flight of the prototype, does not mean Japan will immediately start producing stealth aircraft. The government will only decide how to proceed in 2016.
The Defense Ministry expects the economic impact of domestic research, development and production to reach 8.3 trillion yen ($101 billion) and create 240,000 jobs.
To date, Japan relies heavily on the US for its defense with a significant number of fighters and other aircraft, along with some 50,000 troops, stationed around the Japanese archipelago.
However,
“Japan wanted the F-22, but Congress didn’t agree to that,” Yoshioka said. “We realized that it was important for us to develop our domestic capabilities.”
China and Russia, meanwhile, have made great strides toward perfecting advanced stealth fighters that could rival the F-22, out-fly Japan’s aircraft and — coupled with other rapid advances now under way, particularly by China’s navy.
China surprised experts when it sent a stealth fighter, the Chengdu J-20, up for a test flight in January during a high-profile visit to Beijing by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Yet the J-20 is still years away from combat readiness. However it could complicate efforts to control potential conflicts over Taiwan or North Korea and dramatically improve China’s air defenses.
Read the full report on Yahoo News.
