Japan Stealth Jet Prototype Set to Fly in 2014
Japan is looking to join the United States, China and Russia with a stealth fighterthat senior Japanese air force officials say can be ready for a prototype test flightin just three years, significantly upping the ante in the intensifying battle forair superiority in the Pacific.
The prototype will likely be able to fly in 2014, Lt. Gen. Hideyuki Yoshioka, directorof air systems development at Japan"s Ministry of Defense, said in an interviewwith The Associated Press.
He said Japan has put 39 billion yen ($473 million) into the project since 2009, afterit became clear the United States was not likely to sell it the F-22 "Raptor" ?America"s most advanced fighter jet ? because of a congressional export ban.
"We are two years into the project, and we are on schedule," Yoshioka said Monday.Yoshioka stressed that a successful test flight of theprototype,dubbed "Shinshin,"or "Spirit," does not mean Japan will immediately start producing stealth aircraft.
The prototype is designed to test advanced technologies, and if it is successful
the government will decide in 2016 how to proceed.
（以下略）
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