{"id":3880,"date":"2016-04-22T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T18:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5917.temp.domains\/~iriacom\/\/news\/?p=3880"},"modified":"2016-04-22T18:48:22","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T18:48:22","slug":"japans-x-2-stealth-fighter-makes-first-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/japans-x-2-stealth-fighter-makes-first-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s X-2 stealth fighter makes first flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan is now the fourth nation, after the United States, Russia and China to test fly its own stealth jet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan has successfully flight tested its fifth generation fighter jet as the country joins a select group of world military powers wielding the radar-dodging technology.<\/p>\n

The X-2 jet took off from Nagoya airport in central Japan on its maiden test flight, making\u00a0<\/span>Japan world’s fourth nation, after the United States, Russia and China to test fly its own stealth jet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe maiden flight was significant to secure the necessary capability for a next-generation fighter jet,\u201d Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told media<\/a> in Tokyo after the flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can expect technological innovation in the aerospace industry as well as application of that technology in different fields.\u201d<\/p>\n

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has raised Japan\u2019s defence budget every year of his premiership but Japan\u2019s stagnant economy means it is falling ever further behind China.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The X-2 is equipped with engines from IHI Corp. and cost about 40 billion yen ($366 million) to develop, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n

The Advanced Technology Demonstrator, called X2, took off from Nagoya airport in Aichi Prefecture at 8:47 a.m. Friday morning, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry.<\/p>\n

The demonstrator, which will undergo a further two years of testing before a decision is made on whether to develop a homegrown next-generation stealth fighter, flew about 15 kilometers and touched down at the Air Self-Defense Force\u2019s Gifu Air Field.<\/p>\n

With the maiden flight of stealth fighter, Japan has become world’s fourth country to test-fly its own stealth jet, upgrading a lackluster domestic aerospace industry at a time when China continues to agitate in the region.<\/p>\n

The category known as fifth-generation fighters began with the service entry of Lockheed Martin Corp\u2019s F-22 Raptor in 2005, according to IHS Jane\u2019s. The F-35 fighter, the Pentagon\u2019s costliest weapons program, was designated ready for limited combat operations with the Marine Corps last year.<\/p>\n

China has already conducted flights for its first self-developed stealth fighter jet, the J-20, and its J-31 stealth plane made its debut in 2014 at China\u2019s 10th International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition. Russia successfully tested a prototype of its fifth-generation PAK FA stealth fighter in 2010.<\/p>\n

The US, Russia and China all are developing stealth jets, which have reduced visibility to infrared sensors and can cruise at supersonic speeds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan is now the fourth nation, after the United States, Russia and China to test fly its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[124,1],"tags":[227,256,137,6,286,46],"class_list":["post-3880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-news","tag-air-force","tag-aircraft","tag-asia","tag-defense","tag-fighter-jet","tag-japan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Japan%E2%80%99s-stealth-fighter.jpg?fit=634%2C340&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-10A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3880"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3883,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3880\/revisions\/3883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}