The
Japanese government, lead by Prime Minister Abe, have been pushing for
increased export of made in Japan defense systems for the past year.
Reuters is reporting that United Kingdom is being offered the Japan's
Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Kawasaki P-1 Maritime Patrol Aircraft
(MPA).
Initial talks reportedly took place during the Farnborough Airshow in
July last year. The United States have also been pitching the Boeing
P-8 Poseidon and the Lockheed Martin SC-130J Sea Hercules MPAs.
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The Nimrod MRA4
programme was cancelled in 2010 as a result of the Strategic Defence
and Security Review
and British forces are left no direct MPA replacement since. In November
2014 a submarine was detected off the coast of Scotland and Britain
requested MPAs from France, Canada and the US to conduct patrols,
in conjunction with Royal Navy surface warships.
The P-1s, designed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. in cooperation
with the Japanese Defense Ministry, will replace over 80 aging P-3
Orion MPAs used by the JMSDF. The new planes should start being deployed
on patrol duties this year following
two years of flight testing. The P-1 development started in 2001 and
planed to finish in March 2012. The process was delayed for one year
due to cracks found in its wings and bodies.
During the official delivery ceremony held in 2013, an official declared
that the JMSDF expressed a need fo a total of 70 P-1s.
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As
the successor to the P-3C, the P-1 is used for prolonged, extensive
patrols in the sea areas surrounding Japan. The P-1 is a totally new
aircraft that was developed and manufactured domestically, including
the airframe, the engines and the patrol systems. According to the JMSDF,
with its latest technologies, the P-1 flies faster and has a greater
range and useful load than the P-3C, enabling it to patrol the extensive
sea areas surrounding Japan for many hours.
It is the first aircraft in the world fitted with fiber-optics flight
controls. Their main strength is that they reduce the risk of electromagnetic
interference. ASW (anti-submarine warfare) is assisted by an artificial
intelligence. The P-1 is fitted with a Toshiba HPS-106 AESA radar with
360 degree coverage,a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) at the back, and
Infrared/Light detection systems.
It has a bomb bay and 8 hardpoints, allowing it to take nearly 9 tons
of payloads, including nearly 100 sonobuoys. Its crew consists of a
pilot, a co-pilot and 11 operators. |
