Lockheed Martin to propose stealth hybrid of F-22 and F-35 for Japan

Why is that plane all smokey? Is that normal?

That's water vapor.

Amazing photo!

Why is that plane all smokey? Is that normal? Well, more tax dollars spent enriching the producers of people killing technology instead being invested in finding cures for cancer and lots of other diseases, or invested in education etc etc etc.

Glad to see Lockheed are (potentially) going to be helping Japan modernise its air force. Would be nice if BAe would do the same as well, but I won't get my hopes up. Having something based upon the Eurofighter in the JASDF could be potentially quite useful, especially in responding to Chinese and Russian jets. So that and an F-22/F-35 hybrid would really strengthen Japan's air defence capabilities.

@Matt Hartwell: the answer to that would most likely be because US Congress doesn't want to develop an F-22/F-35 hybrid. The F-35 has been nothing but a major headache for them, so they're not likely to approve hybridising it, even with the highly successful F-22. Letting Japan do that fusion though is more likely, and if it turns out that Japan gets good results, then Congress might approve funding to develop something like that. Or they'll focus on an entirely new and unique 6th generation design that would surpass even this proposed hybrid.

In response to your other comments about China and 6th generation fighters, I don't think there's all that much for Japan to worry about there. China isn't exactly strong at domestic development of military assets. Much of its airforce and naval warships are based strongly on Russian assets. Some of them actually are Russian. But with Russia not having a well funded military, I find it highly unlikely that they'll field a 6th gen fighter any time soon, leaving China high and dry. They can try developing something from scratch, but it won't be anything especially high quality, compared to what the US and Europe (particularly the UK) will be fielding. This proposed hybrid is likely to meet 6th generation standards, and will be more than a match for China's designs. Not sure why you'd talk about not discounting the Europeans since most European countries are looking to work more closely with Japan, especially in the defence industry. Perhaps Japan may even join in on the joint development of a 6th generation fighter. I wouldn't rule out the possibility, though I acknowledge it could be unlikely.

According to

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/lockheed-martin-wants-merge-f-22-f-35-1-fighter-japan-it-25509

The proposed hybrid won’t match the US requirements for a future fighter so Japan will not only pay for development (hundreds of billions of dollars), testing (billions), and production (a few more billion), but won’t find any customers for it - the US won’t allow them to sell it overseas and the US won’t want to buy it.

As GanbareJapan almost says, Good for Abe and his cronies; not good for Japan’s deficit-heavy budget. (But who cares about the people of Japan, anyway? Besides, the people will be forced to pay for it - more taxes - while Abe’s friends will make millions.)

This is a good idea. Japan needs a twin engine model. Lockheed may be able to offer a better price than either self development by Japan or a multinational collaboration. Let's see what happens.

Amazing photo!

Yeah - and totally worth its mind-boggling price tag!

Amazing news! So happy to read this. And build by Mitsubishi too, so big boost for economy. Japan needs to spend a lot more of the budget on military to match China.And recruit more young men to fly these fighter-jets too of course!

Great news!

I suspect its pie in the sky thinking to be honest and given how long Lockheed took to develop the F35 and the ridiculous, stark raving insane levels of money required to finally get the thing flying, I would be extremely wary of signing up to any development programme with Lockheed. Just 12 years to get planes in sufficient quantity in the air and in the meantime, you can bet that China fields 6th generation fighters in that time.

Is this going to be a 6th generation aircraft? Can the specs outperform what China will field? Keep in mind that France, Germany etc are now committed to working on a joint 6th generation fighter. I would not discount the Europeans entirely either.

And recruit more young men to fly these fighter-jets too of course!

I assume you've got no children in Japan so are not concerned about the effect of Japan's phenomenal national debt or increased military tension in the region may have on the next generation of Japanese adults.

In order to be able to out fight the Russian and Chinese air Superiority fighters your new jet will need to have high Stealth, Twin engines, Speed over Mach 2.5, high manouverability at speed, well trained pilots and superior ordinance.

Being sub standard in any one of those areas will lead to an inferior plane.

F35

High stealth, Single engine, Speed of mach 1.61

SU-35 Air superiority fighter of choice for Russia and China.

Moderate stealth, Twin engine, Speed mach 2.25

The above is the reason the F35 multi role fighter needs an Air superiority fighter to protect it against the SU-35.

America has the F22 but will not export it, so its allied nations need to find their own air superiority fighter to counter the SU-35.

Either buy your own SU-35 or develop something new to defeat it and the newer PAK 50.

But remember these are needed now, not in 12 years as the SU-35 is already prowling the sky's.

Pressure the US to reopen manufacturing of the F22 with tech upgrades, with selected allied assistance.

Australia also needs F22's and would help apply pressure for their export.

we should buy chinese fighters.reasons...1. cheaper. 2. if pushed to war, we understand the technology. 3. american planes crash, have technical problems and inflate the price adding maintenance. 4. american planes have software giving information to america.

Oh boy. The only thing you've got right there is number 1, and all that says is 'you get what you pay for.'

Number 2... what? That doesn't even make sense, not to mention if pushed to war with China, good luck getting support for your cheap Chinese technology.

Number 3: Google 'Chinese military plane crash' and enlighten yourself.

And Number 4, probably the funniest claim of all. No, China won't steal information. Nope, they're totally trustworthy.

The headline is missing ... "at 90% creamy margin"

Yes, because that's how capitalism works.

The closer you send this piece of technology to China, the easier for them to get it.

Why bother?

Why spend that much money on smoke and mirrors to say we have a better plane than China when no war is going to be decided in a few dogfights. Everything is done by drones these days in the safety of an air conditioned KK (shipping container) house with wifi and netflix.

watching TopGun tonight!

"Stealth hybrid of F-22 and F-35" hard to say. How's about... "Stealth F-28.5"?

The kindest thing Lockheed can do for Japan is refuse to help make these aircraft.

The cloud above the wings is caused by a rapid reduction in air pressure forcing moister in the air to condense into a cloud. This is very common on aircraft when the conditions are right.

The F-22 isn't sold to anyone except the USGovt. I suspect they don't want a repeat of the F-15 tech getting out world-wide. Having close access to a stealth fighter lets non-friendly nations learn the capabilities to a much greater extent than what Jane's says.

"would combine the F-22 and F-35 and could be superior to both of them" If it is the case, why F-22 exports are still banned?

Japan will probably copy it and try to sell their own version of the tech to some other country, so yes, LHM will need to Milk Japan for as much as they can get before that happens.

What Japan really wants is a twin engined F-35... and China already has it.

http://www.defenseworld.net/news/19619/China_Offers_FC_31_Stealth_Fighter_At_Half_the_Price_of_US_F_35__Paris_Air_Show_2017

The closer you send this piece of technology to China, the easier for them to get it.

So true.

S-500 is the best option.

Yeah, that's "unlikely" to happen. First, the US has refused to sell the F-22 airframe or ANY part of it to anyone, even the British. Second, you don't just slap f-35 sensors in the new plane, it would take time and a WHOLE lot of money. 3rd, As someone pointed out, the U.S. needs to sell as many f-35s as possible to get the unit cost down.

I agree that Japan's fighter fleet needs an upgrade, but the off the shelf f-35 a (and maybe b versions) will meet its needs at a much lower cost than this proposed franken-plane (oh, I like that one. I'm trademarking it!)

These machines are only worth a couple of million each. The rest of the money is shared out between buddies or spent on "other things"

The proposed aircraft "would combine the F-22 and F-35 and could be superior to both of them," said one of the sources.

So if they consider that possible now, why on Earth would anyone buy the F35? And why aren't they designing and building them already? Why does it need Japan as a potential customer. The U.S government should be filthy in the knowledge that Lockheed apparently thinks it can create something better than all the jets in the U.S inventory and that Lockheed is still selling the U.S government inferior F35 jets along with all U.S allies.

we should buy chinese fighters.reasons...1. cheaper. 2. if pushed to war, we understand the technology. 3. american planes crash, have technical problems and inflate the price adding maintenance. 4. american planes have software giving information to america.

Amazing news! So happy to read this. And build by Mitsubishi too, so big boost for economy. Japan needs to spend a lot more of the budget on military to match China.And recruit more young men to fly these fighter-jets too of course!

Great news!