Japan’s first stealth fighter X-2 jet successfully completes its maiden flight

Japan successfully tested the maiden flight of its first domestically developed single-pilot stealth fighter jet X-2.
With this Japan becomes fourth country in the world to have indigenous full-size stealth combat aircraft. Other three countries viz. United States, Russia and China have successfully developed and flown manned stealth jets.
Test: The prototype X-2 jet took off from Nagoya airport in central Japan. It safely landed at Gifu air base, north of Nagoya airport with no particular problems after a 25-minute flight.

About X-2 jet

• It is jointly developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 200 other firms. It was built as a successor to F-2 fighter jets developed jointly with the help of US.
• It is strategic project of the Japanese Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) for research purposes.
• The aircraft is widely known in Japan as Shinshin (meaning spirit of the heart), but is not officially in use and generally its code name is used.
• The fighter jet is 14.2 metres long, 9.1 metres wide and has wingspan of 9.099 metres.
• It has maximum speed of mach 2.25 (2,475 Km/h) and is powered by 2 × IHI XF5-1 low-bypass turbofans.
• It has range: 2,900 km and combat range of 761 km and ferry range of 3,200 km.
• Its delivery to the Japanese defence ministry is expected as early as May 2016 and the acquisition will be after analysing its stealth technology capability.

Note: Stealth aircrafts are designed to avoid detection mainly by using a variety of stealth technologies. These technologies reduce emission/reflection of radar, infrared, visible light, radio-frequency (RF) spectrum and audio.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2016