Japan unveils First Stealth Fighter Jet.....

I reckon they'll use this platform for developing a fullsize unmanned version of it. Then mass produce them and sell em to anyone but China, because China will have its own by then anyway.

 

It kind of reminds me of the Hornet. Of course, all three are pretty similar to one another.

 

I would agree I see more Hornet in the X-2 than the F-35.

The Hornet actually started out as the Cobra.

When the Air Force decided to go high end / low end fighters the F-15 became the high end and the competition for which fighter would be the Air Force low end fighter came down to the General Dynamics F-16 Falcon and the Northrop F-17 Cobra.

The F-16 won the contract because Northrop had poor salesmen working for them.

But soon the Navy and Marine Corps were looking for a dual purpose fighter to replace the F-4, A-4 and A-7's. Now Northrop already had a fighter that was already flying but had no experience in building carrier base planes. But McDonnell Douglas knew how to build carrier base aircraft and had as much experience as Gruman did. The Northrop F-17 Cobra would become the McDonnell Douglas FA-18 Hornet. Even today Northrop manufactures the FA-18 Hornets fuselauges from it's El Segundo facilities.

 

I wonder if any pilots of Mitsubishi's most famous plane are still alive, and what they think of this.

 

True story.

Some years ago I was on my hog and pulled up beside some young hot looking babe driving a Mitsubishi and looked at her, she looked at me and smiled.

I then said "Misubishi"

She smiled even more while nodding her head.

Then I said "Misubishi, they made the Jap Zero that killed my uncle over New Guinea during World War Two."

You should of have seen the reaction in her face.

 

Interestingly, othe rthen Sony (which did not exist then), Toyota (which made looms) and Yamaha (musical insturments), pretty much every major Japanese company around today was deeply involved in the war effort.