Junk jets for Japan: Tokyo's trying to liberate itself from WW2 restrictions

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Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | ??????? ????? | ???? | Roepienieuws | Rupi Nyheter | ??????? | Notizie di Rupia | PAKISTAN LEDGER | ???????? ????? | Moin Ansari | ???? ??????? | February 9th, 2008 |

Bharat (aka India) is one of the only major countries of the world that has been been unable to design and manufacture its own planes, tanks and missiles that work. The Key word is “work’. Bharat has struggled for ovr two decades in designing the Tejas and it is not close to flight trials. The LCA, the Arjun, Trishul, and other missiles hae met a similar fate. It purchased hundreds of Flying Coffins which it could neither maintain nor fly. When Delhi tried to substitute Russian parts, the faulty and shoddy Indian parts gave the IAF the dubious distinction of having the worst crash record on the planet. “A sucker is born everyday”. Intead of fixing its problems, Delhi is again spending Billions of Dollars on equipment that is junk. The US and Russia dumping Sub-standard military hardware on Japan and India:

• http://www.zimbio.com/World+Politics/articles/1665/USA+Russia+dumping+substandard+military+hardware
• India denied opportunity to design Migs: Buying planes worth $10 billion

• Is India getting junk that flies again? Why is the press silent?

This analysis by Pierre M. Spey, a key member of the F-16 and A-10 design teams, cast sharp doubt on the F-35’s capabilities:

“Even without new problems, the F-35 is a ‘dog.’ If one accepts every performance promise the DoD currently makes for the aircraft, the F-35 will be: “Overweight and underpowered: at 49,500 lb (22,450kg) air-to-air take-off weight with an engine rated at 42,000 lb of thrust, it will be a significant step backward in thrust-to-weight ratio for a new fighter…. [F-35A and F-35B variants] will have a ‘wing-loading’ of 108 lb per square foot…. less manoeuvrable than the appallingly vulnerable F-105 ‘Lead Sled’ that got wiped out over North Vietnam…. payload of only two 2,000 lb bombs in its bomb bay…. With more bombs carried under its wings, the F-35 instantly becomes ‘non-stealthy’ and the DoD does not plan to seriously test it in this configuration for years. As a ‘close air support’… too fast to see the tactical targets it is shooting at; too delicate and flammable to withstand ground fire; and it lacks the payload and especially the endurance to loiter usefully over US forces for sustained periods…. What the USAF will not tell you is that ‘stealthy’ aircraft are quite detectable by radar; it is simply a question of the type of radar and its angle relative to the aircraft…. As for the highly complex electronics to attack targets in the air, the F-35, like the F-22 before it, has mortgaged its success on a hypothetical vision of ultra-long range, radar-based air-to-air combat that has fallen on its face many times in real air war. The F-35’s air-to-ground electronics promise little more than slicker command and control for the use of existing munitions.”

Here are some salient points for the argument that is being made. 

• The US Air Force estimates that the F-22s would cost about $142 million apiece, but when development expenses are added, the price tag soars to more than $350 million per plane.
• News reports in 2007 said Japan would be willing to pay $300 million each for a fleet of 100
• The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) currently possesses about 360 jet fighters, with three different models. It has about 200 F-15s, about 70 F-2s and about 90 F-4EJ jets, but the latter have been used since the Vietnam War and are scheduled to be retired by 2013. …replace its aging fleet of about 90 Mitsubishi/McDonnell Douglas F-4EJ fighters.
• It also won’t sell the F-22 to the UK and Australia, among others
• Is the F-35 a total failure like the F-111? Australians think so!
• Su 27s smoke out F-22 in Taiwan wargame, Su-35s club F-35s “like baby seals”
• Joint Strike Fighter: The Latest Hotspot in the U.S. Defense Meltdown
• USA, Russia dumping substandard military hardware on India!
• India pays $10 Billion for stripped down Migs: Excluded from designing plane
• India provides tricolor paint and $10B for stripped down FGFA Mig 29

While the Europeans are not interested in purchasing the F-35s, why is Japan willing to pay an arm and a leg for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N0iXFN37iU&feature=player_embedded

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cORX4hdHEsg&feature=player_embedded

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qKaiOu0gvU&feature=player_embedded

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Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway are all formally investigating alternatives to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to replace their F-16s. On September 1, Saab bid a package including 85 Gripen Next Generation (NG) fighters to the Netherlands, offering a “fixed acquisition cost” and “significant savings over 40 plus years operation. By Chris Pocock Aircraft September 16, 2008

X-35B STOVLUS Navy F-35C

If the Australians don’t want America’s latest toy why are Asians willing to spend a fortune on them?

On Sept 11/08, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has asked for a full report from Australia’s DoD, in response to public reports that a classified computer simulation of an attack by Russian-built SU-30 family aircraft on a mixed fleet of F-35As, Super Hornets and F-22s, had resulted in success for the Russian aircraft. Fitzgibbon, who questioned the strategic logic behind Australia’s plans for an F-35/ F-18F fighter fleet while in opposition, asked for anAustralian Department of Defence review, and added that:

“I’m determined not to sign on the dotted line on the JSF until I am absolutely certain it’s capable of delivering the capability it promises and that capability can be delivered on time and on budget.”

On Sept 12/08, Australia’s opposition Liberal Party waded into the fray in support of its previous decision to buy the F-35A. It asked the new minister to release the results of the recent Air Combat Capability Review, and get on with his decision. On Sept 25/08, the RAND Corporation stepped in with a statement of their own concerning the August 2008 Pacific Vision simulation:

“Recently, articles have appeared in the Australian press with assertions regarding a war game in which analysts from the RAND Corporation were involved. Those reports are not accurate. RAND did not present any analysis at the war game relating to the performance of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, nor did the game attempt detailed adjudication of air-to-air combat. Neither the game nor the assessments by RAND in support of the game undertook any comparison of the fighting qualities of particular fighter aircraft”

The end result left the Australian controversy without much substance. Even so, the timing of this contretemps could not have been worse from Lockheed Martin’s perspective. Just 3 days earlier, the left-wing American Center for Defense Information had released “Joint Strike Fighter: The Latest Hotspot in the U.S. Defense Meltdown.” This analysis by Pierre M. Spey, a key member of the F-16 and A-10 design teams, cast sharp doubt on the F-35’s capabilities:

F-35A #AA-1Indra Dhanush: SU-30MKI, Eurofghter, Tornado F3

TOKYO – Across the world, potential buyers, rivals and military experts are watching closely United States President Barack Obama’s decision on whether or not to continue building the costly F-22 stealth fighter, Japan is certainly no exception.

No one expects the US to lose its global military hegemony any time soon, but Obama’s decision – which has to be made by March 1 – could be a bellwether of how the global economic upheaval will shape American military planning in the coming years. It is also likely to be a good indication of how he will manage relations between the US government and the military-industrial complex.

In Japan, the first would-be overseas buyer if given the chance, there is all kinds of speculation on the issue of Lockheed-Martin’s F-22 Raptor, considered the most advanced air-superiority fighter in the world, and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a next-generation, one-engined supersonic stealth aircraft. Japan could eventually buy one, or both, or neither. It’s still hard to find anything concrete.

US Air Force estimates that the F-22s would cost about $142 million apiece, but when development expenses are added, the price tag soars to more than $350 million per plane. News reports in 2007 said Japan would be willing to pay $300 million each for a fleet of 100. (See Japan fired up over US fighter May 5, 2007>.)

The

Some military analysts have said that to replace its aging fleet of about 90 Mitsubishi/McDonnell Douglas F-4EJ fighters, the Japanese Ministry of Defense will maintain its pursuit of F-22 fighter jets. This is based on the assumption that the US Congress will lift its ban on the export of its most advanced US fighters to Japan, which is feasible considering Japan’s role as a linchpin of US security interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

 
They believe Washington is willing to preserve the golden era of US-Japan relations, epitomized by the rapport between former US president George W Bush and former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Some Japanese newspapers, such as the Yomiuri Shimbun, have also reported that faced with continued intransigence from the US Congress over lifting the ban, which is afraid of a cutting-edge technology leak over the possible F-22 fighter sale to Japan, Tokyo will begin to shift towards the other five contenders to replace the F-4 fleet.

Namely, these are Lockheed-Martin’s F-35, Eurofighter’s Typhoon, Boeing’s F-15FX and F/A-18E/F and Dassault’s Rafale.
But many are afraid that should the Japanese government order the Eurofighter’s Typhoon, the US government would interrupt such negotiations and ask Japan to reconsider them in respect of the bilateral security relationship.
Some are also concerned that Japan’s stalled efforts to relocate the US Marine Corps’ Air Station Futenma within Okinawa prefecture have already discouraged the US from exporting F-22 stealth fighters to Japan, an indication they say of Washington’s waning desire to strengthen the US-Japan alliance as part of its security strategy in the northeast Asian region. The relocation issue has been deadlocked for more than a decade, mainly due to local opposition.
“I don’t think Okinawa is a factor at all,” Michael Green, former senior director for Asian affairs of the White House National Security Council, said in an interview with Asia Times Online last week. The “biggest issue is whether the USAF [US Air Force] will buy enough to keep the line open until a Japan export version is ready.”

Others have also pointed out that Washington is less willing to export F-22 stealth fighters to Tokyo as it could strain strategically important Sino-US relations. Obama’s decision on the F-22 fighter program – with its wider implications for Japan-US and China-US ties – will make things clearer on this subject.

“The US is cautious of military technology transfer,” said Hideshi Takesada of the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies, a think-tank attached to the Japanese Ministry of Defense. “It also won’t sell the F-22 to the UK and Australia, among others. It should be hard for Japan to receive such special considerations from the US. Should Japan stick to [its plans to buy] the state-of-the-art fighter, it would prove to be damaging to the national interest.”
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) currently possesses about 360 jet fighters, with three different models. It has about 200 F-15s, about 70 F-2s and about 90 F-4EJ jets, but the latter have been used since the Vietnam War and are scheduled to be retired by 2013.

• Russian Arms “Made in China”: http://www.zimbio.com/F-22+Raptor/articles/7/Russian+arms+Made+in+China
• China allows a peek: Subtle warning to India
• Indian machination against China
• Chinese J-11s
• Pakistan is Chinese “Israel”
• IAF offensive actions against China and Pakistan
• The China Nexus with Pakistan grows
• Chinese technology exports to Pakistan: JF-17 Thunder, J-10s, J-11s
• China and Pakistan
• China exporting Y-89 AWAC technology to Pakistan
• An historic realignment

Japan wants the US planes and is willing to pork up to $300 million a pop for them

Japan has repeatedly said throughout 2008 that it is seeking access to information on the F-22′s technologies and performance data to review its capabilities before procuring next-generation (FX) fighters for the JASDF to replace the aging F-4EJs.

Japan’s Defense Ministry was previously scheduled to begin the acquisition of next-generation FX fighters for the JASDF during the fiscal year 2009 starting this coming April, but delayed this before its deadline of September, 2008. It refrained from requesting any part of the national budget, citing difficulties gathering information about candidate airplanes such as the F-22.

Instead, it requested 89.2 billion yen (US$996 million) in the national budget to upgrade 22 F-15s to improve air defense capabilities, according to a spokesman at the ministry.

In an effort to reduce the impact of a delayed FX selection, the JASDF is seeking to extend the life of the F-4EJ fighters by using them “more efficiently”, the spokesman said.

Although this is little-known among foreign observers, the ministry also requested about 8.5 billion yen in the next fiscal year budget for preliminary work to develop a Japanese version of the stealth fighter called Shinshin, meaning the Heart of God. The ministry plans to spend a total of 39.4 billion yen until the fiscal 2015 to develop the Shinshin.
“This is a long-term plan, so nothing related to the FX selection this time around,” the spokesman said.
Asia Times. Kosuke Takahashi is a Tokyo-based journalist. He can be contacted at letters@kosuke.net Japan frets over the US’s F-22s By Kosuke Takahashi

Junk jets for Japan: Tokyo's trying to liberate itself from WW2 restrictions

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