Not quite as vaporware-centric as Iran, I think.
Anybody care to speculate about the blurring inside of the inlets, and what might be there..?
The development time on this sucker is….kind of suspect.
Last: “AGEING F-2”…?! What a laugh…!
They prolly meant something more like, “the Tsunami took out a bunch of super expensive F-2’s…??
The actual F-2s are relatively recent - but the base design is from the 1970s. The F-2 is a license-built copy of the F-16 which first flew in 1974, with the Block 52 updates and changes as of 1991.
That’s at least a 20 year old design any way you look at it now.
My first guess, The Japanese are hiding the method that they used to block radar waves from giving a return signal. Air intakes are a major radar reflector.
My second guess, There may be a door that closes the main intake. An auxiliary door is behind and above it. It may be a combination of both guesses.
