Mitsubishi Stealth

The Mitsubishi 3000GT sports car was sold in the US as the Dodge Stealth, but now the company has moved up to the real thing.

Japan's Technical Research & Development Institute (TRDI) recently unveiled images of the Mitsubishi ATD-X stealth fighter in the form of a full-scale radar cross-section (RCS) model. One picture was released a few months ago by TRDI, but has now disappeared from their site. Other images can be found here. They include a presentation slide confirming that France has been supporting the Japanese stealth program:  between September and November 2005, the model was tested in the French government's radar cross-section (RCS) range. Other features of the twin-engine jet include thrust vectoring with external paddles, an F-22-like external shape, fly-by-light controls and the testing of a smart-skin sensor.

In some ways the ATD-X project is comparable to BAE Systems' Replica stealth demonstration in the mid-1990s. It's not likely that the Japanese government will fund the development of an operational stealth fighter, but the domestic capability may be used to ease US concerns about exporting its own stealth aircraft to Japan. Further down the road, too, the same technology could be used in other systems such as cruise missiles or unmanned air vehicles.

Using the French range is logical. At Bruz, near Rennes, France's DGA defense agency's CELAR (center for military electronics) laboratory constructed the Solange indoor RCS range. A photo found here shows that Solange may be the biggest indoor RCS range in the world, capable of measuring a real fighter rather than a subscale mock-up. The same site also confirms that Solange was built with the help of a US company, absorber specialist Emerson & Cuming.

--Bill Sweetman

Comments

[Peter]

I think this is a important post.

The rise of China to a super power is going to be one of the most important foreign policy concerns for this century. How to manage this rise in a peaceful fashion should be a extremely high priority forgien policy concern.

A key to this policy is a strong alliance with Japan and the sale of F-22 to Japan, may cement that relationship for 20 years.

Technological concerns are important and legitimate concerns should be addressed, but they need to be kept in prospective and this posting is a step in the direction of doing that.

[Big Rocket]

Japan has leaked classified US military technology in the very recent past on two separate occasions [1]. One had to do with a sea-based missile defense system, and the other concerned the Aegis weapon system. Given Japan's propensity for technology leaks, it would be foolish for the US to export the F-22 to Japan, and hand over top-of-the-line US military technology, which was developed at great expense to the US taxpayers. If F-22 technology falls into the wrong hands, it would pose a grave risk to US national security.

I agree with you China is, or will soon become, a military threat. I also agree with you Japan, as an ally of the US, should be adequately protected from China's regional ambitions. Which is why Pentagon officials have proposed to Japan to join the JSF fighter program [2]. Japanese national security should not come at the expense of US national security.

[1] http://aviationweek.typepad.com/ares/2007/05/loose_lips_sink.html
[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18664226/