Kawasaki P-1

The Japan Security Watch blog has published images of the Kawasaki XP-1 maritime patrol aircraft conducting flight tests with two Type-91 anti-ship missiles on its inboard missile pylons. The two outboard pylons, between engines 1-2 and 3-4, are empty in the photos.



Japan currently has two aircraft for flight tests and two for ground tests. In August we reported that the ground testing aircraft developed cracks in their wings and fuselage, though Japan's defence ministry was unable to tell us how this would affect testing or procurement timeframes.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. held a ceremony Tuesday in Gifu
Prefecture to deliver the first two P-1 next-generation antisubmarine
patrol aircraft to the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The two planes will be deployed to the MSDF Atsugi base in Kanagawa
Prefecture and will undergo flight tests for two years before engaging
in maritime patrol missions.

Kawasaki Heavy has cooperated with the Defense Ministry’s Technical
Research & Development Institute in developing the P-1 turbofan jet
to replace the P-3C turboprop aircraft that the firm produced under U.S.
license. However, completion of the new plane was delayed for one year
due to fuselage cracks.

The four-engine P-1 is the world’s first practical aircraft to use
the fly-by-light system that sends signals through fiber-optic cables to
control surfaces while preventing electromagnetic waves from the
electronic systems from affecting flight control, the firm said. The
MSDF plans to replace about 80 P-3Cs with some 70 P-1s.

“The situation has grown severer due to such developments as Chinese
government ships sailing into Japan’s territorial waters around the
Senkaku Islands,” Senior Vice Defense Minister Akira Sato said at the
ceremony. “I’m confident the P-1 will play a core role in securing
safety in Japan and the international community.”

In a fresh bid to win its first major foreign arms deal since World War Two, Japan is proposing its P-1 submarine hunter for a French-German project to develop a marine surveillance aircraft, two Japanese government sources said

General characteristics

• Type: Turbofan
  
  
• Length: 2.7 m
  
  
• Diameter: 1.4 m (Fan)
  
  
• Dry weight: 1,240 kg
  
  

Components

• Compressor:
  
  

Performance

• Maximum thrust: 60 kN (13,000 lb_f)
  
  
• Bypass ratio: 8.2:1
  
  

• Hardpoint: 8 wing stations in total (2x on each wing and 2x on each wing root) and eight internal bomb bay stations
  
  
• Bombs: 9,000+ kg (20,000+ lb)
  
  
• Missiles: AGM-84 Harpoon, ASM-1C, AGM-65 Maverick
  
  
• Sonobuoys: 30+ Pre-loaded, 70+ Deployable from inside
  
  
• Other: MK-46 and Type 97 and new (G-RX5) torpedoes, mines, depth charges