Military of China, force comment.
Military of China, force comment.

The Figure: U.S. Air Force F-35A fighter.

Xinhua news: Japan’s procurement of 42 F-35 aircraft, the F-35 in terms of a belated answer. However, relative to the F-35 development process, the news came, or too early. Recently, the F-35 costs soar, the price will reach $ 200 million of the people numb tongue, really let the Japanese embarrassment, is to continue or give up who are difficult to make a choice.

a Americans sent to the technical high expectations, known as the “decisive” next generation fighter, the F-35 is not designed like at the beginning, like a painting good draft, a again and change does not change its weakness at the beginning of the design, but because the idea too much to be changed beyond recognition. Therefore, we have never seen a scene: the development of a fighter dragged on for nearly 30 years. F-35 fighter program, and the F-22 is a time difference of the front and rear legs, the 1990s its prototype has been dished out, but when it was the West to confirm the next-generation fighter for the harmonization of procurement, and joint investment of the Western powers project, its development process unexpectedly slowing down the dates of its equipment was again postponed, the latest news until 2016. It is waiting for? Waiting for the technology matures or wait for a buyer? Finally, people can not wait, the Japanese made a difficult choice, but is cautious, ordered only a mere 42 for Japan’s national industry is a bad news for the F-35 development team hard to say that is good news.

the Japanese to make choice of purchase F-35, in my opinion one of the reason is very complex.

The first is the technical level. As the F-35 development side, Lockheed Martin seems to have become America’s largest arms supplier. However, the history of military aircraft R & D point of view, the Lockheed Martin is not the experience and technology strongest team. Military aircraft R & D in the United States three generations ago, Douglas, Boeing and General Dynamics, is the most traditional manufacturers of military aircraft R & D technology. Unexpected, since the Lockheed Martin F-117 plans come from behind, as if overnight pay good luck, the F-22, F-35 orders come one after another, but the technical level of a team is not like it luck, like that come, the F-22 and F-35 fighter development process shown by the people to bear the “bad”, fully proved that the Lockheed Martin team is not strong the field of Military Aircraft.

in the competition of the F-22 fighter, Lockheed Martin has become the final winner, but the military in order to balance the interests of all parties, the decision led by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics to participate until the Boeing General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin team when sitting at a table, they find themselves defeated by the where: they do not have the Lockheed Martin Fudge! Because, in the U.S. military aircraft procurement mechanism, the military demand proponents, but they are not to be proficient in technical professional and the military for the various options proposed by the supplier audit is entirely conceptual. When the team of technical experts from Boeing and General open the Lockheed Martin design, they found that Lockheed Martin aircraft is a fundamental not fly “iron bird”, the only reason for it to win it packing than Boeing and General Motors program. People will eventually see the F-22 did not Lockheed Martin’s original design, but by the three companies repeatedly modified hybrid products.

Lockheed Martin and got the F-22 orders, while the growth in the development process of the team’s technical capabilities, but fall into the abyss of technology in the F-22 R & D technology tangled. From the design of the F-35 a variety of models, we again see a Lockheed Martin is good at imagination, but poor weakness of hands, a 15-ton medium-sized fighter, has been given so many features, which not carry the technology make it difficult to take off the weight, which is the root cause of the F-35 program was dragged.

The second reason is that the fundamental concept of the four generations of machines in the United States – stealth. From the F-117 fighters in “Desert Storm” and the war in Kosovo to see the stealth ability is indeed in the war played an unprecedented role. The era of resource wars, ratio whose depletion is smaller in the high-tech competition, stealth is undoubtedly a huge technical advantage. However, the stealth concept of this technology the biggest drawback is the great difficulty of implementation, while the cost of ultra-high. The fighter is not a missile, but the offensive air defense weapons, fighter performance requirements must be the fusion of flexibility, lethality, and low loss, but the design and manufacture of point of view, flexibility, and lethality and stealth is a contradiction, how to resolve this contradiction, is a four-generation machine technology tangle.

this contradiction is still relatively easy to solve, because the F-22, after all, a larger space, some room for maneuver in the design, considering the mobility and the ability to mount stealth of contradictions. F-35 is different in a single 15-ton aircraft, it is necessary to meet the requirements of mobility and the ability to mount, but also to meet the technical requirements of stealth, it is too difficult, the F-35 is therefore seem unwieldy, its too complex technical standard aircraft reliability and maintenance is difficult.

F-35 fighter is the selfishness of Americans in the technical. As the big brother of the Western allies, the Americans are technically not at all Big Brother tolerance, but rather appears to be too overbearing. F-35 technical cooperation, the Americans adhere to the confidentiality of its stealth technology, not cooperating country transfer of stealth technology, so that the cooperating countries to become a four-generation machine “wage earners”. Out of fear of the United States, other countries in the West can not overbearing technically the United States there are more complaints, they had to choose to give up and wait, which led directly to the F-35 orders for the delay can not be signed.

then, Japan’s procurement of the F-35 plan is how to make it? I think this is another successful Americans in the Asia-Pacific strategy, and they took advantage of the Japanese fear for their own safety, by rendering the complexity of the Asia-Pacific situation, to achieve the purpose of selling military products. We look back and look at the In recent years the development of the Asia-Pacific situation: With the people of Okinawa to complain about the U.S. military base is gradually rising, Americans for Japan’s high-handed policy step by step to upgrade to the end of 2009, the contradiction between the Japan-US impasse. 2010 Asia-Pacific situation suddenly turned to Korean shipwreck and Yin Ping Island shelling incident, the two Koreas in the escalation of conflict has shifted people’s attention, and deepen the strategic alert in Japan and South Korea, time is just over the past year, Prudential between the airport question is no longer raised, the Americans succeeded in the focus of the Asia-Pacific region, transferred to the contradiction between China and its neighboring countries up. This is the important reason for the Japanese to make a purchase of the F-35 fighters, which means that Americans in the Asia-Pacific strategic Fudge successful.

Of course, the procurement of the F-35 for Japan is not good news for the procurement of an operational performance has not been any real world testing of the aircraft, carrying huge risk, is the test fighters for Americans effectiveness. Just as Indian purchase of Su-30MKI to verify the effectiveness and shortcomings of the canard fighter for the Russian people, and ultimately abandon the Russians on the equipment type Su-35 canard, using traditional aerodynamic layout.

F-35 procurement plans of neighboring countries also have a huge effect of radiation, regardless of alliance or potential opponents will therefore adjust their strategy, and the only beneficiaries of the United States. they can output the F-35 from the boon.

F-35 from the intention of the procurement to the final column installed, generally to go through a few years time, but Japan’s procurement plan is bound to four generations of machine research and development have a profound impact. For Japan’s military aircraft industry, the strike is devastating, Japan as the country has a huge industrial capacity, high-tech fields can not be involved in the competition of the international military equipment, even for indigenously produced fighter the opportunity lost, this technique The effect will crack down on Japan’s national industry for decades, it is difficult to imagine how Japan will swallow While the bitter fruit of heavy. Other Western countries, is a tremendous pressure to continue to equip three generations of semi-fighter, or the purchase of four generations of fighters like the Japanese, this option is difficult to be decided. The (of Xuyong Ling, Air Force Command College instructors, Meritorious Test Pilot)

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