Paul Lewis/TOKYO
THE FIRST prototype of the Mitsubishi FS-X support fighter was rolled out on 12 January amid continuing uncertainty over future defence spending and the number of aircraft to be purchased.
The single-engined FS-X is based on the F-16 and has been developed with Lockheed at a cost to date of ´327 billion ($3.3 billion). The aircraft will have its first flight in the third quarter of this year and be delivered to the Japan Defence Agency (JDA) in March 1996.
Four flying prototypes will be built, including two tandem-seat trainers. A test and operational-evaluation programme of 1,000 flights is planned by the JDA's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) and Air Staff Office.
Two additional static aircraft will be used by the TRDI for 6,000h of structural and fatigue testing. FS-X development and initial operational testing is scheduled for completion by the end of 1998.
Planning calls for FS-X production to start in 1996 and the first aircraft to enter service in 1999. The Japan Air-Self Defence Force hopes to purchase up to 130 aircraft as replacements for its Mitsubishi F-1s.
The aircraft is designed for three principal missions, says FS-X development-office director Col Ozaki: maritime and ground support and counter air-defence. Weapons will include Mitsubishi's ASM-2 anti-ship missile.
The Japanese Government, however, has not yet officially committed itself to ordering the aircraft or determining the numbers to be built. "They will build it - there's just the question of when and how many - and I don't think they know the answer to that yet," says a Tokyo-based Western defence source.
The FS-X will cost an estimated ´8 billion per aircraft to build and the issue is proving politically sensitive for Japan's socialist-led coalition Government. Defence planning for the next five-year period, starting in 1996, is to be reviewed in response to calls for cuts is expenditure.
Production go-ahead also hinges on a specific work-content agreement being reached with the USA. Government-to-Government discussions will need to be concluded by early 1996 if the programme is to remain on schedule.
In 1990, US companies were guaranteed a 40% share of the overall programme. Lockheed, which has a 30% stake, expects its production-work content to mirror the company's share of the development phase, notably the aircraft's aft fuselage, left-hand wing box, leading-edge flaps and stores management.
Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries' planned 40% production share of the aircraft's General Electric F110-129 turbofan engine also has not yet been confirmed. The seven engines for the development phase are being supplied directly by General Electric.
Defence sources say that the engine's high-pressure turbine, first- and second-stage nozzles, turbine blades and digital electronic-control system are considered to be technically sensitive.
Source: Flight International
