Paul Lewis /TOKYO
JAPAN PLANS TO extend licence production of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighter to compensate for the anticipated reduction in procurement of the new Mitsubishi/Lockheed Martin FS-X.
The Japan Defence Agency (JDA) is understood to be seeking initial funding in the fiscal year 1996 budget for an additional 24 F-15s. The aircraft, are expected to be built at a rate of five to six a year, prolonging production at Mitsubishi's Komaki South plant in Nagoya, until the end of the decade.
JDA planning had called originally for the deployment of 193 F-15J/DJs by 1998, sufficient to equip eight Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) fighter squadrons.
Production at Mitsubishi has recently slowed considerably, with orders for only five more aircraft in the FY1995 budget.
The new aircraft will be built to the standard F-15J/DJ configuration and will not incorporate avionic improvements planned for the fleet, such as new radar (Flight International, 20-26 February).
According to defence sources, the additional aircraft are needed to allow for the partial replacement of the JASDF's Kawasaki T-2 lead-in fighter trainers.
The air force operates two squadrons of locally designed T-2s, many of which are nearing the end of their planned fatigue life.
It had been intended to replace the tandem-seat T-2s with an FS-X derivative trainer. A two-year slippage in deliveries and a reduction in planned production however, has effectively ruled out, the FS-X as a T-2 replacement.
Production of the FS-X is likely to be reduced from the original 130 to around 70 aircraft, enough to equip only three front-line fighter-support squadrons. Production is scheduled to start in 1996, with the first aircraft not entering service until 1999.
The cut in FS-X procurement is the result of higher-than-expected development costs and the recent 20% drop in the value of the US dollar to the Japanese yen. The estimated cost of the FS-X, therefore, has ballooned to over $100 million per aircraft.
Extension of the F-15 production line has also hit JDA plans to develop an indigenous replacement for the fighter. Initial funding for the TD-X technology demonstrator, which would form the basis of a future stealth fighter to replace Japan's F-15, has now been pushed back by a year.
Source: Flight International
