japan air self-defense force

The USN acquired 142 Lockheed EC121s in the early 50s to mount long-range early warning barrier patrols in the Atlantic and Pacific. The main strength was 5 sqns for each ocean with various cats and dogs supporting units. The barrier patrol lasted until 1965 and afterwards the USN transferred 30...

https://mainichi.jp/articles/20240323/k00/00m/010/164000c It just came out that Japan wont be adopting either the M-346 or T-7A for it's next generation trainer, but will be jointly developing a new trainer with the US. There isn't much info on the program right now such as what companies are...

I am just trying to compile all domestic Japanese UAV programs in one place. Maybe I will add a bit more info on each as time goes on. I know for a fact I'm missing a lot of the early cold war programs, so any help there would be appreciated. FUJI/SUBARU Fuji-Vigilant 5000...

I am deeply appreciated of the beautiful appearance of domestic twin tailed Mitsubishi FS-X fighter jet (which in turn being replaced by the American design single engine F-16 variant which is now known as F-2 Viper Zero), so I am curious how many other unbuilt cold war era Japanese military...

https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/20221209-OYT1T50038/ Yomiuri Shinbun reported that there's a major shift of JSDF force mix incoming. This is following a major increase in defense spending by the Japanese. In short, they will replace a major share of their manned aerial assets in favor of...

As the Tempest II and F-X programs merged into the GCAP, I think that it's better to create a specific topic. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/tempest-uk-future-fighter-programme.30547/ https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/japanese-next-generation-fighter-studies-aka-i3-f-3.11566/...

I haven't made a post on here in ages but today I stumbled upon something very strange and interesting only the people here might know of to find. I was going on a romp around Japan in Google Maps looking at aviation museums and such and I came across a museum near Nagoya Airport owned by...

The ADTW F-4EJ Kai Unit 301 has some unique cockpit controls exclusive to it relating to Camera and optical pod operation. From what I know all the camera pods used by RF-4EJs and F-4EJs used film based cameras that didn't give any video feed into the cockpit. It seems that the this unit...

"Patlabor 2" featured two improved F-15 and F-16 variants designed by Shōji Kawamori. Recently HMA Garage released 1/144 models kits of those designs along with detailed artworks. Links provided are from model kits webstores that show materials from HMA but not available on their site. F-15...

From Air International 8/1982, here is the Kawasaki KV-107-X helicopter project,consider a super Chinook,developed from KV-107-II with many new features,does anyone hear about that beast before or has anyone a more info about it ?.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20131106/DEFREG02/311060020/KC-46-Came-Within-24-Hours-Contract-Breach-During-Shutdown

Hi all: one of the worst problem getting older is memory. Probably I said that before but... I don't remember... During the Seventies I saw a publication (perhaps a Japanes "AiReview" or "Koku-Fan" but could be also an European one) dealing with Japanese Self-Defense Air Force fighters with...

Dear Boys and Girls, here is an article describing the BAC X-Eleven "project" for a (then) new technology short-medium range jet airliner with CFM-56 engines. This "project" has a wider fuselage cross-section than the standard BAC 1-11. I believe this was the final attempt to make a stand-alone...

Model of Lockheed Martin/Mitsubishi F-2 Super Kai proposal circa 2005. Sources: http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-3264.html http://www.zonamilitar.com.ar/foros/tecnologia-y-armamento-aereo/1019-mitsubishi-f-2-super-kai.html

Here's an anime concept showing underbody conformal tanks/bays for an F-16, to answer the complaint about dorsal missile carriage. Couple that with the diverterless inlet and F-16XL style large wing, and you would have something interesting to work with.

Just from a mission planning perspective. The current Anti Ship weapon planned for B-1 has a range that could be 2 to 3 times of this weapon (which iirc is 100-150nm class). This means the B-1s would need to get closer to a potential target, and also mean that you will need more aircraft to...

The original FS-X design seems to owe a lot to the Hornet 2000 proposal, doesn't it? Particularly that fourth image- aside from the wedge intakes and shorter nose, I might have thought that was the Hornet 2000 proposal......

A fellow aviation collector I know in Japan posted this image to our forum and he tells me that it was some sort of full-size RCS test model for a proposed Japanese fighter design. I've never seen anything like this in the press before but it appears to be some sort of F-22-based model with what...