Japanification

[Weaver]

A small debate on Twitter ("X" ) got me thinking:

The Japanese have, effectively built their own, distinctively different versions of at least two western aircraft. Each is their own, distinctive machine, but each clearly draws from another for it's basic concept and layout:

The F-1/T-2 is a "Japanese Jaguar", designed locally only because SEPECAT demanded a licence fee for the actual Jaguar that the Japanese regarded as too high.

The F-2 is a "Japanese F-16", designed locally as a compromise between the Japan wanting to build a completely original fighter and the US wanting them to buy American.

So in a parallel universe, what if this principle had been applied to other aircraft in Japanese service? What might a "Japanified" F-86, F-104, F-4 or F-15 have looked like? What other aircraft might they have built "Japanified" versions of?

[Nick]

You could argue that the Fuji T-1 is derivative of the F-86 Sabre or the F-84.

[Dizzyfugu]

IIRC the F-2 was developed with HEAVY support from the US, using an already existing concept for an improved F-16 (that was not realized in the US/for the USAF, though).

[Weaver]

IIRC the F-2 was developed with HEAVY support from the US, using an already existing concept for an improved F-16 (that was not realized in the US/for the USAF, though).

Indeed, but since the Japanese were the only ones interested, it still makes it a distinctively Japanese development. The essence of "Japanification" as I see it is to take somebody else's aircraft and develop, in collaboration with them, an improved or tailored-to-Japanese-needs version. Obviously for it to be interesting from a modelling PoV, it needs external differences, not just different avionics.

[Weaver]

Since the Japanese built it, liked it, and had a respectable accident record with it, the F-104 would seem a candidate for the "F-2" treatment. Maybe the F-1/T-2 concept was rejected and they chose to upgrade their Starfighters for the "anti-landing-craft" role: bigger nose for a better Japanese radar, bigger wings so that it can carry two drop tanks AND two ASM-1s AND two Sidewinders on the wingtips ('cos it's always better to hit those "landing craft" hundreds of miles away if possible...   ), bigger tailplane to match the wing, and Italian-style twin ventral fins to compensate for the larger nose.

[kerick]

There were rumors about Japan building a stealth fighter heavily based on Northrop's YF-23 Black Widow design. I'm not sure what that would look like.

[Steel Penguin]

for the anti surface role  perhaps a buccaneer version, but not too certain what / how. 

[Weaver]

for the anti surface role  perhaps a buccaneer version, but not too certain what / how. 

Maybe based on one of the unbuilt upgrades offered by Blackburn?

The JASDF wouldn't be operating from carriers, so they could delete the wing fold and have integral fuel in the outer wings, maybe with extra low-rated pylons outboard for AAMs or ECM pods. Possibly also afterburners for max weight+max temp take-offs instead of the rocket boosters the South African ones had.

Actually, the Bucc's range with a bomb bay tank + four ASMs might have made it politically unacceptable as an "offensive" aircraft. The post-war Japanese forces were constitutionally limited to a defensive role ("defensive" having been redefined several times since), hence the F-1's mission being describled as "anti-landing craft" rather than "anti-ship." An anti-landing craft aircraft was obviously "defensive", but an anti-ship aircraft that could attack enemy assault transports off-shore could also be used to sink their warships and merchant ships too. Of course everybody could figure see what the F-1 was really for, just like they can figure out that the latest Japanese "helicopter destroyers" (with offset island superstructures and through decks) are F-22 carriers in all but name.

[The Rat]

We can go all the way back to the Kikka, an Me-262 knock-off:



And the NAMC YS-11, almost identical to the HS-748

[Weaver]

How about when the prospect of building Jaguars under licence went away, the JASDF took a shine to the Mirage M1-53 instead? That would involve a Mirage F1 with a bulged back end for the M-53 engine (as per the real prototype) and the front fuselage re-arranged to fit an M-61 Vulcan instead of the two DEFAs and a bigger radome.

OR

How  about they choose to co-develop the Mirage 4000 with Dassault instead of buying the F-15?

[Weaver]

We can go all the way back to the Kikka, an Me-262 knock-off:

The Kikka was more of an "inspired by" than a knock-off. It had straight wings and an oval-section, instead of triangular-section, fuselage. Very much the sort of thing I have in mind though.

[Weaver]

Special Hobby do their bubble canopy Me-163C in a What-If boxing with, amongst other schemes, Japanese markings:

[McColm]

Well the Japanese did build their own version of the Lockheed Neptune,  so the Lockheed P-3 Orion would be next.

[Rheged]

Special Hobby do their bubble canopy Me-163C in a What-If boxing with, amongst other schemes, Japanese markings:

The Mitsubishi J8M, as described by Wikipaedia :-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_J8M

[PR19_Kit]

Well the Japanese did build their own version of the Lockheed Neptune,  so the Lockheed P-3 Orion would be next.

They DID build the P-3 under licence. Kawasaki built them and some are still in service.