Lockheed Martin is reportedly pitching the idea of a new fighter jet that would combine features from its
F-22 Raptor and
F-35 Joint Strike Fighterto the U.S. Air Force. It is also continuing to offer a similar proposal
to the Japanese government and is now reportedly willing to let companies in Japan handle a significant portion of the research and development and production of the aircraft.
Defense One’s Marcus Weisgerber
got the scoop that the Maryland-headquartered defense giant was looking to sell the U.S. Air Force on the idea of hybrid design that blends elements of its two previous stealth fighter offerings. Earlier in August 2018, the
Nikkei Asian Review had also revealed new details of Lockheed Martin’s ongoing discussions with Japan about a very
similar-sounding aircraft, which Japanese officials hope could be ready for service by 2030.
“There’s a lot of potential in this idea [of a hybrid F-22-F-35],” David Deptula, a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General, present Dean of the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, and long-time
F-35 cheerleader,
told Defense One. “I’m not suggesting that we jump right into it and embrace it, but from the Japanese perspective when they are looking at and willing to invest in this kind of an alternative as opposed to trying to build an indigenous aircraft that’s not going to get close to what an F-22 can already deliver. It’s a smart move on their behalf.”
Lockheed Martin’s concept would reportedly marry the F-35’s core features, such as its
advanced mission computer and extensive,
inter-linked sensor suite, with an airframe design derived from
that of the F-22. The company would also be able to incorporate lessons learned in
stealth coatings and other
complex manufacturing processes required for stealthy and other advanced aircraft that it has
learned from the F-35 into the design and production of the new aircraft.
Not only could this positively impact production cost and overall capability, but it could also significantly lower the cost per flight hour when compared to the F-22. The Raptor's radar-absorbent skin is notoriously demanding on maintainers and negatively impacts the availability and cost of operating the jet. The F-35 introduced a new, lower maintenance concept that supposedly solves many of these issues.
The firm’s Skunk Works specialized design bureau has been doing pioneering work in both
rapid prototyping and manufacturing science that could apply to the project. Between the F-22, F-35, and
other advanced projects, the company has gained an extensive knowledge base to draw from to potentially help keep costs down and speed up the development process of a hybrid fighter jet. Totally new stealth fighter programs have become
notoriously lengthyand
expensive endeavors.
The War Zone has
long supported Japan's desire to procure F-22s and has proposed this
exact aircraft and arrangement in the past. As we described before, if the U.S. Air Force acts even as a minor stakeholder in a project that its Japanese counterparts were leading, it could help significantly in spreading out the development cost burden. Now it seems very likely that Lockheed Martin itself is presenting this exact reality to both parties.
The company has reportedly been proposing an arrangement under which it or its subcontractors would initially build the main fuselage, engines, and mission systems in the United States, but using a steadily increasing percentage of Japanese parts,
according to Nikkei. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan would build the wings to start with, which will reportedly be larger and stronger than those on the existing F-22 to hold bigger fuel tanks in order to give the new fighter an unrefueled combat radius of nearly 700 miles without the need for drop tanks that would negate its stealthy characteristics.
But the basic design would specifically allow for the eventual substitution of both Mitsubishi Electric-supplied mission system components and IHI's
XF9-1 engine. If Lockheed Martin and Japan could agree on how to implement those options, Japanese companies might find themselves responsible for more than 60 percent of the production work,
Nikkei explained. Even without this more extensive involvement in the aircraft’s development and construction, the fighter jet project could offer the government in Tokyo an important opportunity for technology transfers and to get contracts for domestic firms to supply a number of smaller components.
Perhaps most importantly, the resulting aircraft would likely be both Japanese enough and distinct enough from the F-22 to avoid a number of export complications. Japan famously attempted
on multiple occasions to buy Raptors, but got rebuffed by the U.S. government on each occasion. The fact that it would also feature many elements already found on the F-35 also helps with export concerns since the country is now
part of that program.
A shared U.S.-Japanese stealth fighter program would offer both countries the benefits of lower unit costs.
Nikkei reported that Lockheed Martin had estimated that each F-22-F-35 hybrid would cost around $216 million if the total order was for 70 aircraft. This would drop to less than $190 million if the order were to double.
This
is more than twice the unit cost of
a new F-35A variant at present, but is less than the estimated per-aircraft price if the U.S. Air Force decided to restart the F-22 production line on its own
and agreed to buy 194 aircraft, by
the service’s own calculations. Under an ideal cooperative deal, the U.S. may be able to pay for very little of the aircraft's development and other non-recurring costs, basically buying the airframes for the unit cost alone.
To put the F-22 back into production, the USAF figured these costs would amount to roughly $10B. While that notional effort would incorporate some modernized elements into the aircraft, it would not be nearly as elaborate as an upgrade as what Lockheed is supposedly pitching now and what Japan seems to be interested in.
