Posted on 07/13/2014 8:12:18 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin stealth fighter has rolled out.
Last month, a leaked, blurry image provided an interesting preview of the first prototype of the Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X), the indigenous war plane that Japan Air Self-Defense Force will operate in the air defense role, replacing the ageing Mitsubishi F-2.
On Jul. 12, the first official photos of the ATD-X (serialled 51-0001) were released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), the Ministry of Defenses agency that has developed the Shinshin (spirit of the heart, an early codename within the Japan Self Defense Force) for research purposes.
Indeed, the ATD-X will be used for the development of the F-3, Japans next generation stealth jet.
Noteworthy, the new images were taken on May 8, 2014, when the painting of the canted vertical tails radar-evading air superiority fighter with enhanced maneuverability ended.
Image credit: mod.go.jp via Alert 5 (H/T to Antonio Valencia for the heads-up).
Possibly tactical stealth - it’s possible to generally detect any stealth aircraft with a big enough radio array. But tactical stealth, where you can’t lock munitions onto the enemy and you must close in to use guns when all his weapons lock on to you just fine is seriously demoralizing and a good way to get dead for no return.
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.
The smaller Nissan outboards are actually Tohatsus Tohatsu outboards are the heart of the Japanese fishing fleet. They are designed to handle both fresh and salt water and are considered the best small outboards in the world.
Tohatsu started making outboards about the same time Evinrude did.
There was a time when almost all the small outboards in the U.S. were made by Tohatsu, and just rebranded.
they’ve just made mark’s jet from g-force.
seriously, looks nice, kinda big in the nose, but nice.
Now they need to start working on the Phoenix! The fiery test might be spectacular.
It must have been really bad because there is a couple Youtube trailers and nothing else I can find.
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.
didn’t they call that firebird mode or something like that?
different versions called it different things.
In the original Japanese version the plane was called The God Phoenix, forget what the fiery mode was called. They have like 102 episodes of the original at Hulu
!
More legit than the Iranian one
Thank you! I did not know any of that!
I am bumping up to a 20hp next year!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.