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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| Japan succeeds in test flight of first stealth fighter jet | |
| 2016-04-23 | |
| At least they think they did... Japan's first stealth fighter jet successfully took to the skies on Friday as the country joins a select group of world military powers wielding the radar-dodging technology.
The domestically developed X-2 jet took off from Nagoya airport in central Japan on its maiden test flight as dozens of aviation enthusiasts watching the event erupted in applause as it lifted off into the clear morning sky. The single-pilot prototype safely landed at Gifu air base, north of Nagoya airport, after a 25-minute flight with "no particular problems," said an official at the defence ministry's acquisition agency. It was an "extremely stable" flight, the pilot was quoted as saying by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the main contractor. "The first flight has a very significant meaning that can secure technologies needed for future fighter development," Defence Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters. "We also expect it can be applied to other fields and technological innovation in the entire aviation industry," Nakatani added. The X-2, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 200 other firms, measures 14.2 metres (47 feet) long and 9.1 metres wide and was built as a successor to F-2 fighter jets developed jointly with the United States. Its delivery to the defence ministry is expected as early as next month and the acquisition agency "will continue analysing data and check its stealth technology capability," the agency official told AFP. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Will they call it The Ninja? We can hope. |
| Posted by: jpal 2016-04-23 07:59 |
| #1 I wonder if they will sell some to us after the F-35 fails so badly that it gets cancelled, and we cannot get the F22 production restarted? |
| Posted by: Squinty Spawn of the Sith1354 2016-04-23 00:16 |