Mitsubishi X-2 ATD-X Shinshin Demonstrator

[blackkite]

The cranked arrow wing f-16xl type variant has no tails while the fighter keeps them in the illustration?

It's only the artistic impression. ;D

 

[gTg]

Cos its a cheap demonstrator? It will show advantages (or not) of thrust vectoring without major expense...

A valid argument, but just to test TVC, an existing jet could have been modified with these paddles.
What puzzles me is that some artist impressions of the potential operational birds feature stealth paddles?!
Are there any advantages compared to having it directly integrated into the engine nozzle, like for all other operational aircraft using TVC?

 

[Dragon029]

From what it looks like; greater vectoring ranges. If you look at the old videos of the X-31, the thrust could be deflected to very large angles which gave it such amazing performance. The Japanese might be looking at having the option to equip the i3 or F-3 with dramatic low-velocity handling capabilities, in case dogfighting becomes relevant again for whatever reason.

 

[gTg]

Thanks Dragon029, if they are after extreme deflection ranges it makes sense.


I'm glad i could see the X-31 live at le Bourget in 95, never seen anything like it before or after.
I look forward to the ATD-X flight demos, if it can get close to X-31 level !

 

[Triton]

Is it still the plan for the Mitsubishi F-3 project to be Japan's contribution to the United States' NGAD (aka F/A-XX or F-X) project? Does Japan still intend to merge its requirements into NGAD per the Aviation Week article? I was surprised by the Aviation Week article because of other articles that have I read that have stated that the ATD-X project was Japan's response to the export ban of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Plus, does Japan intend to export the production F-3?

Source:
http://aviationweek.com/awin/japan-aims-launch-f-3-development-2016-17

 

[Triton]

I created a topic for the Self-Defense Forces and New Generation Weapons Perfect Book in the Bar:

"Japan Self Defense Force 2035"
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,20226.0.html

 

[blackkite]

Hi! Another movie and image.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7DmrZKFzgM

 

[flateric]

it's just sized up TRDI official photo with the same low resolution and gameplay video...

 

[Avimimus]

I think that was an obvious comment

 

[robunos]

Vertical tail positioning looks... wrong. Too far inboard.

Maybe so positioned to avoid buffeting by the LERX-induced vortex at high AOA? I recall the F-18 had a serious problem with this...

cheers,
Robin.

 

[blackkite]

Another angle?　And T-4, X-31.

 

[blackkite]

Hi! New images from recent Koku Fan magazine.
Koku Fan magazine says that the canopy of ATD-X is from Kawasaki T-4 and the landing gear is from Mitsubishi T-2.

 

[Triton]

"ATD-X Emerges Amid Japanese Fighter Choices"
Considering a cooperative fighter program, Japan ground-tests its demonstrator
by Bradley Perrett

Jul 24, 2014

Source:
http://aviationweek.com/defense/atd-x-emerges-amid-japanese-fighter-choices

Japan has rolled out its ATD-X Shinshin fighter technology demonstrator, is considering buying more Lockheed Martin F-35s and will decide within four years whether it will develop its next combat aircraft alone or with a foreign partner.

When the ATD-X was launched in 2007, Japan’s vision was to progress from its then-current fighter program, a heavily modified F-16, to independent development. Now, with a policy change allowing defense exports, the technology from the demonstrator may end up in aircraft that emerge from foreign production lines as well as from one in Japan.

The single ATD-X aircraft, about the size of a Saab Gripen, is undergoing ground tests, says the defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), the sponsor of the program. TRDI is due to fly the ATD-X this year, beginning an evaluation program that will run until 2016. The aircraft has been built to demonstrate technologies—including stealth shaping, skin sensors and fly-by-light controls—that the ministry hopes to apply in its next fighter development program (AW&ST Aug. 6, 2007, p. 26).

Official photographs taken on May 8 show the ATD-X on the apron outside a factory building of airframe builder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) at the Komaki South plant in Nagoya. The airframe underwent static testing last year. The ATD-X will be powered by two 11,000-lb.-thrust IHI XF5-1 -engines.

U.S. involvement in the program, probably peripheral, appears in TRDI’s budget statement for the fiscal year to March 31, 2014, which lists contracts signed with the U.S. Air Force in support of the program. One item, costing ¥114 million ($1.12 million), is for testing outside Japan. Another, for ¥760 million, is for unspecified training from the U.S. Air Force. Japanese authorities have not mentioned a plan to fly the ATD-X outside Japan. The U.S. clearly has refused to supply stealth technology for the ATD-X, since Japan sent a radar model of the intended design to France in 2005 for evaluation.

One function of the ATD-X is to serve as a radar target, supporting development of counter-stealth technology, because, TRDI has said, stealth aircraft are hard to simulate. In 2008, it hoped to use the ATD-X to validate the abilities of the FPS-5 radar, E-767 AWACS and Airboss infra-red turret to detect stealth aircraft. Six years later, it would not be surprising if other sensors have been added to the list.

The design features radar-absorbent paint and sheet on the leading edges of the wing, bulkhead behind the radome, lower sides of the forward fuselage and in the inlet ducts. One issue should be to ensure that the material applied to the ducts does not peel off and foul the engines.

Despite the curves of the ATD-X’s inlet ducts—the engine faces which are strong reflectors of radio energy—are visible outside through a small range of angles; the aircraft should be far more detectable at those angles. The solution was to develop a radar blocker, a set of radial vanes or battles that obstructs radio energy in inlet ducts while hopefully not interfering much with air flow. A published diagram of the radar-absorbing material appears to indicate it fitted.

The designers do not appear to have paid much attention to rearward radar reflections, probably because developing a thrust-vectoring nozzle for the XF5-1, another feature the aircraft is intended to demonstrate, was a big enough challenge even without making it stealthy.

Development of the ATD-X began in 2000, according to TBS Television, but the government did not approve building and flying the aircraft until 2007, when the U.S. refused to supply the Lockheed Martin F-22. XF5-1 development began in 1995. The engine, a low-bypass relative of the XF7 turbofan of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries P-1 maritime aircraft, is intended to support future development work.

A British parliamentary committee reported in 2002 that spending on such technology demonstrators could save five times as much in the follow-on acquisition program. Typically, the demonstrator accounted for a 10th of the full program cost.

The ATD-X appears to be costing ¥77.1 billion, including airframe and engine development and manufacturing, plus the flight-test program. Engine development cost ¥14.7 billion, basic design of the stealth configuration with thrust-vectoring control ¥13.4 billion and system integration ¥7 billion. TRDI spent ¥2.7 billion researching airframe structure suitable for the skin sensor. Manufacturing and flight testing is budgeted at ¥39.3 billion, but spending of ¥22.5 billion under that heading last year alone suggests that that figure will be exceeded.

Even so, Japan appears to be spending much less than half of the present-day value of what Britain and partners spent on airframe and engine technology demonstrator programs that preceded the Eurofighter Typhoon. Admittedly, those 1980s efforts resulted in full-scale equipment, whereas the ATD-X is probably half as big as the fighter for which it is laying groundwork.

That next aircraft is provisionally called the F-3. The defense ministry planned to launch the program in 2016 or 2017, with a prototype flying in 2024-25 and series production from 2027, according to an official document seen by Aviation Week two years ago (AW&ST Oct. 22, 2012, p. 24). But even at that time there was good reason to think Japan would instead seek co-development with the U.S., especially since the U.S. Air Force planned to bring its next tactical aircraft into service around 2030.

Now Defense Minister Itsunori -Onodera says Japan will decide by 2018 whether to develop its own fighter or cooperate with another country. That happens to be the same year in which the U.S. Air Force has proposed to begin an acquisition program for its next fighter. Onodera’s policy accompanied the much-heralded formal relaxation in April of Japan’s arms export rules, which now permit sales of equipment to partners in joint programs.

Technologies in the ATD-X are not considered enough for the F-3, so another research effort, called the i3 Fighter, is underway. It includes work on slimmer engines for supersonic cruise, cockpit shielding against radio waves, metamaterials for controlling radio waves passing through the radome, data integration aimed mainly at dealing with stealthy targets, and cooperative use of sensors and weapons by several aircraft flying together. Some of that technology—especially the proposed 33,000-lb.-thrust IHI engine—would be useful mainly to give Japan the option of developing its own fighter, for which TRDI has prepared concept designs. Others could be offered to the U.S. or another partner as the key Japanese contributions to a joint program.

Before such an aircraft is delivered, Japan will need more fighters than the 42 F-35s that in late 2011 it decided to order as replacements for more than 70 F-4EJ Kai and RF-4E fighters built mostly in the 1970s. Of 201 F-15J and F-15DJ fighters in the inventory, only 88 are to be upgraded with a more reliable radar and Mitsubishi Electric AAM-4B air-to-air missiles. The unmodernized aircraft are therefore candidates for replacement in the next decade.

But Lockheed Martin may receive an order for a few more F-35s before that issue arises. After a visit to the F-35 factory on July 8, Onodera said Japan should consider buying more F-35s if the cost of the aircraft falls. The Jiji news agency quotes unnamed defense officials who go further, saying that the ministry will watch price movements and see whether they can add several F-35s to the existing plan—evidently, the F-4 replacement plan, the F-X program.

It is not clear whether Onodera meant that if the 42 F-35s turn out to be cheaper than expected, then Japan may increase its order to fully use its budget allocation, or if he meant that a fall in price as F-35 production proceeds could induce Japan to spend more. Tokyo is buying F-35s under the Foreign Military Sales program, so it pays the same price as the U.S., plus an administration fee.

Tension with China over the Senkaku or Diaoyu islands must be encouraging the minister to consider boosting the fighter force. Last October, he seemed to entertain a suggestion for more F-15 upgrades. A member of the Diet, citing gloomy results of simulated air combat over the islands, called for 99 more to be modernized. Onodera replied: “That is a good point. Our ministry is doing a capability assessment. We are now introducing the F-35A and studying upgrades to the F-2.”

The F-2, an extensively modified F-16 that MHI built until 2011, should leave service around 2035, according to TBS Television. The type is already receiving a sophisticated modernization (AW&ST Feb. 27, 2012, p. 27). Upgrades to 76 of the 92 in service have been ordered, including 12 this financial year.

 

[datafuser]

The source of this part "A British parliamentary committee reported in 2002 that spending on such technology demonstrators could save five times as much in the follow-on acquisition program. Typically, the demonstrator accounted for a 10th of the full program cost." is

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmtrdind/597/2020406.htm

FROM DEMONSTRATOR TO EUROFIGHTER

It is estimated that the ￡190 million investment in the Experimental Aircraft Programme Technology Demonstrator saved the Industry and Government ￡850 million in development costs for the resulting Eurofighter and shortened the development time by one year. Similarly, the XG40 Demonstrator for Eurofighter's EJ200 engine cost ￡135 million but saved ￡650 million from the development programme. Demonstrators may sometimes appear expensive, but are in fact a fraction of the total development cost—typically less than 10 per cent.

 

[blackkite]

http://www.msn.com/ja-jp/news/national/%e5%9b%bd%e7%94%a3%e3%82%b9%e3%83%86%e3%83%ab%e3%82%b9%e6%a9%9f%e3%81%ae%e5%88%9d%e9%a3%9b%e8%a1%8c%e5%bb%b6%e6%9c%9f-%e3%83%ac%e3%83%90%e3%83%bc%e3%81%ab%e6%ac%a0%e9%99%a5%e8%a6%8b%e3%81%a4%e3%81%8b%e3%82%8b/ar-AA7RS3s?ocid=TSHDHP :'(

Found to be postponed to April since first flight is expected in mid-January, lever to control the domestic stealth aircraft international joint development of next-generation fighters, such as eye on Defense Ministry is making research advanced technology demonstrator engine defect was found. It was planned and manufactured aircraft such as Mitsubishi heavy industries, during this year's first flight.


To recognize the position of the lever controlling the engine output, according to the Defense Ministry for equipment works properly without the software renovation became necessary. Said that you can add new auto-restart when the engine stopped in the air that is introduced to new fighter of the U.S. military equipment.

 

[TomS]

Here's an English language story on the topic that actually makes sense:

http://www.defenseworld.net/news/11844/Mitsubishi_To_Delay_Delivery_Of_Japanese_Stealth_Fighter_Prototype

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd may delay the delivery of the first test version of a Japan-made stealth fighter to the Defense Ministry, as the verification of aircraft engines is needed.

The delay was caused by the need to verify a way to restart the aircraft engine if it shut down during flight.

As a result, the maiden flight will be postponed and the development cost, currently planned at $32.9 billion, is likely to increase, according to The Japan Times.

As the company was unable to meet the March deadline, the ministry and Mitsubishi Heavy will hold talks again in the near future to set a new delivery deadline.

Development of a full-scale test model began in fiscal 2009 with the participation of several domestic firms in the defense industry, according to the ministry.

The prototype fighter jet — 14.2 meters long, 9.1 meters wide and 4.5 meters high — features stealth capabilities through the use of carbon fiber, which absorbs radio waves and makes it difficult for radar to detect the aircraft.

Development of fighter jets is also expected to prove beneficial to Japanese manufacturers more widely by enhancing domestic technological expertise.

The ministry has included $2.4 billion related to the test model development in its budgetary request for fiscal 2015 starting in April.

 

[crabanero]

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/watch-out-china-japan-readies-test-new-stealth-fighter-jet-12580

Japan is preparing to test its first ever domestically built stealth fighter jet, Chinese and Taiwanese media are reporting.
“The highly anticipated F-3, Japan's first domestically-made stealth jet, is aiming to conduct test flights this summer,” the Taiwan-based Want China Times reported [4], citing a story in the PLA Daily, the official publication of the Chinese military.
Japan has been building a prototype stealth fighter as part of its advanced technology demonstrator-experimental (ATD-X) program. Some of the first images [5] of the prototype were first published on the web last year.
The ATD-X program, which is being run by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has run into myriad different problems. Indeed, Japan had originally intended to conduct the first flight test of the jet in 2014, however, Tokyo was forced to postpone the test due to “engine control” problems. Back in January, Flight Global reported that, because of these problems, the F-3 wouldn’t conduct its first test “until late this year at the earliest.”
As the name suggests, the ATD-X program aims to develop new technologies to enable Japan to build its own fifth and sixth generation fighter jets in the coming decades. The program was started in part because the United States imposed an export ban on its first fifth generation stealth fighter jet, the F-22.
According to Fox Trot Alpha, along with seeking to develop stealth technologies, “the ATD-X will test include a second generation AESA radar [6], advanced ‘fly-by-fiber-optic’ flight control system that can compensate for battle damage and control surface failures, [and] an advanced ESM [7]and ECM [8] suite.” Flight Global further reports that “two IHI-made XF5-1 low-bypass turbofan engines power the ATD-X, each providing a maximum of 5t (11,000lb) of thrust.”
The ATD-X project is expected to cost at least Y39.2 billion ($330 million), and conclude sometime in 2017. Ultimately, Japan hopes the technological innovations gained from the ATD-X project will enable it to produce the F-3, a fifth generation fighter jet. The F-3s are expected to replace Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Mitsubishi F-2 and F-15J fleets. However, since the F-3s are not expected to enter service until the 2030s, Japan recently upgraded its F-2s— which it stopped producing in 2011— to carry medium range AAM-4B radar-guided air to air missiles.
Japan’s Air Force is also procuring Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter jets. It currently has 42 F-35s on order, but has said it could purchase [9] more of the jets if the price falls. The F-35s will be used to replace some of Japan’s aging fleet of Mitsubishi F-15Js.

 

[Sundog]

Whoever wrote that story was highly confused. The ATD-X is getting ready to fly and it is <i>not</i> the F-3. It's simply a demonstrator to help them develop the technologies they will need to build the F-3, whose design layout isn't even close to being frozen, AFAIK.

 

[Deino]

The most important part is:

"... the Taiwan-based Want China Times reported, ..."

So You can immediately stop reading and I would even suggest to ban everyone here, who's posting stuff from this site.

Deino

 

[sferrin]

The most important part is:

"... the Taiwan-based Want China Times reported, ..."

So You can immediately stop reading and I would even suggest to ban everyone here, who's posting stuff from this site.

Deino

Hey, if they can post from Foxtrotalpha anything is fair game.

 

[pedrospe]

I think that the chinese J-20 and J-31,are still "light years ahead" of the japanese ATD-X,it would be simpler and cheaper,in my modest opinion,if japan just bought U.S. made F-35 or even F-22.




regards


Pedro

 

[TomS]

I think that the chinese J-20 and J-31,are still "light years ahead" of the japanese ATD-X,it would be simpler and cheaper,in my modest opinion,if japan just bought U.S. made F-35 or even F-22.

Japan was very interested in F-22, but the US was unwilling to export it to anyone. Japan is buying F-35s (mentioned right in the original article) but that's not an air superiority fighter, really. That seems to be the mission Japan is interested in for the F-3.

 

[sferrin]

Japan is buying F-35s (mentioned right in the original article) but that's not an air superiority fighter, really.

It's at least as much an air superiority fighter as an F-16 or Hornet.

 

[TomS]

Right, but Japan isn't considering those sort of aircraft for the F-3 slot either. They really want an F-22-alike or possibly even buy-in on the US F-X (assuming that aircraft even happens).

 

[sferrin]

Right, but Japan isn't considering those sort of aircraft for the F-3 slot either. They really want an F-22-alike or possibly even buy-on on the US F-X (assuming that aircraft even happens).

F-X will definitely happen. When on the other hand. . . I wonder if something designed around a pair of EJ200s size wise would be sufficient for Japan or are they looking for something with more range?

 

[TomS]

The demonstrator engine associated with F-3 (not the engine for ATD-X) is pretty sizable: 33,000 pounds thrust (probably reheated). That's a bit beyond even the biggest projected growth versions of EJ200.

http://aviationweek.com/awin/japan-aims-launch-f-3-development-2016-17

 

[sferrin]

The demonstrator engine associated with F-3 (not the engine for ATD-X) is pretty sizable: 33,000 pounds thrust (probably reheated). That's a bit beyond even the biggest projected growth versions of EJ200.

http://aviationweek.com/awin/japan-aims-launch-f-3-development-2016-17

Wow.

"The key goal of the engine program is to build an unusually slim turbofan. The low frontal area and the modest bypass ratio evident in drawings would both promote the ability to fly supersonically without afterburner. So would the generous thrust, although 33,000 lb. must be the afterburning rating; the maximum dry output is unknown. "

I wonder if they'll end up with something maybe PW1120 sized. Doesn't seem like they'd need to go as big as an F100/F110.

 

[TomS]

In terms of raw thrust, this engine is only about 5% short of the public figures for the F119. It might be a bit smaller, thanks to another 20 years of development, but not that much.

 

[sferrin]

In terms of raw thrust, this engine is only about 5% short of the public figures for the F119. It might be a bit smaller, thanks to another 20 years of development, but not that much.

Both the F110 and F100 have hit more than 36,000lbs on the bench and that was back in the 90's, just for comparison. (The P&W F100-232 actually reached 37,150lbs.)

 

[TomS]

It's hard to compare apples to apples, since engine thrust is reported for so many different conditions. Short max-power runs in a test enclosure aren't the same as sustained power in an aircraft installation, obviously. The number being thrown around for the IHI engine ought to be an operational figure, but who knows?

 

[Deino]

Are there any recent news - especially images - since I've heard somewhere the demonstrator started with the taxi-tests ??


Deino

 

[Deino]

Just found ...

 

[FighterJock]

Just found ...

With all the activity around the Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin F-3, I would think that we are not that far away from the first flight.

 

[blackkite]

The advanced technology proof airplane" which becomes a pilot model of a future domestic stealth fighter "ATD− X" found out that make the first flight in August 2015. The person concerned of a defense Ministry technical research head office made it clear to coverage of HUFFPOST Japan edition editorial staff on March 25.

 

[Ian33]

UK should of gone in with the Japanese to make a production version of BAE Replica.

The UK has enough VLO expertise, propulsion, and make it with zero US components so not to get it hit with export vetos left right and centre.. A UK /.Japanese. version of the YF-23.

 

[mrmalaya]

Whilst I agree there are some clear synergies between the UK and Japan ( only recently recognised by the government of the UK with missile technology agreements), the best chance of seeing a Replica replica in the air is as an Anglo/French fighter in the next decades.

 

[Deino]

Any news so far ??? ???

 

[fightingirish]

Japanese ATD-X Shinshin stealth fighter aircraft ready for first flight B)


Read more at: http://defence-blog.com/news/japanese-atd-x-shinshin-stealth-fighter-aircraft-ready-for-first-flight.html

 

[totoro]

2035? that must've been a typo. a few years of demo fliyng and testing, a few years of detailed work on f-3, a few years of prototype assembly and that's 2021-2023. 7-8 years of test flying prior to service entry - 2029 to 2031 seems very much doable.

 

[red admiral]

2035? that must've been a typo. a few years of demo fliyng and testing, a few years of detailed work on f-3, a few years of prototype assembly and that's 2021-2023. 7-8 years of test flying prior to service entry - 2029 to 2031 seems very much doable.

Shinshin is an experimental demonstrator rather than a prototype. Similar to EAP and Typhoon.