The US Department of Defense (DoD) and the Japan Defence Agency (JDA) have signed an agreement to co-operate on finding a possible future replacement for the Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion maritime-patrol aircraft (MPA) .
Under the technical-review deal, US and Japanese officials are to exchange information and individual operational requirements for a new MPA. Industry sources suggest that the move is intended to determine whether there is sufficient common ground on the definition of a future aircraft to support a joint development effort.
The US Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) each have long-term requirements for new MPAs to replace their large fleets of P-3Cs. The JDA's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) has already begun a preliminary study into a replacement MPA.
Tentative JDA planning calls for full-scale development of a new MPA, to be launched in 2000 and to enter service with the JMSDF by 2008. There are doubts, however, about whether Japan's shrinking defence budget will support an indigenous MPA programme, as well as procurement of a new tanker and a replacement for the C-X transport aircraft (Flight International, 4-10 June, P16).
The JMSDF is known to favour procuring a multi-purpose turbofan-powered aircraft to replace its Kawasaki-built P-3Cs. Early conceptual drawings produced by the TRDI show a swept-wing, Boeing 737-sized design. The aircraft would have a maximum take-off weight of around 78,000kg and be powered by four 58kN (13,000lb)-thrust engines.
Japan's overall design concept for a new MPA demonstrates marked similarity with its earlier proposed PXL jet-powered aircraft, which was being developed to replace the JMSDF's former fleet of Kawasaki-built Lockheed Martin P-2J Neptunes. Kawasaki's proposed four-engined PXL was eventually cancelled in favour of licence-produced P-3Cs.
Development of an indigenous MPA has been given added impetus by Kawasaki's growing shortage of new fixed-wing-aircraft work. It is due to deliver the last of 101 JMSDF P-3Cs by September, and a final EP-3 electronic-warfare version in 1998. Its only other work in hand is for three UP-3D electronic training aircraft, all of which will be completed by 2000.
Source: Flight International
