T-2 Supersonic Trainer
The T-2 is a twin-engine supersonic jet trainer developed by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and others for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The T-2 trainer aircraft (also known as the Mitsubishi T-2 ) is an advanced trainer aircraft developed as Japan's first domestically produced supersonic jet trainer. It was used in the final stage of pilot training. There are early and late models, with the later model equipped with a M61A1 Vulcan cannon in the nose as a fixed armament. It was deployed to units from 1974, and 96 were ultimately produced. The F-1 , Japan's first domestically produced supersonic jet fighter , was also developed based on the T-2.
By design, the T-2 aircraft is a cantilever monoplane with a high swept wing (sweep angle along the leading edge is about 42°, in the root part of the wing it increases sharply up to 72°). This arrangement of the wing was chosen for the convenience of hanging various weapons, fuel tanks, containers with reconnaissance equipment, etc. The fuselage of the semi-monocoque aircraft is made entirely of metal alloys, of which about 10% (by weight) are titanium. On the lower surface of the rear part of the Fuselage there is a landing hook and two air brake flaps, and a brake parachute is located inside. The wing has a fairly developed mechanization, consisting of two-section slats, one-section flaps and two-section spoilers.
The aircraft’s landing gear is three-post, retractable into the fuselage. The main cleaning and release system is hydraulic, and the emergency release system is pneumatic. The main landing gear retracts forward after turning 90°. Each rack has one wheel and an oil-pneumatic shock absorber. The wheel brakes are hydraulic with anti-skid devices. The front strut retracts back into the fuselage niche.
The aircraft is powered by two Adur bypass turbojet engines, developed jointly by the French company Turbadeca and the English company Rolls-Royce (Japanese designation TF-40 IHI-801A). According to foreign press reports, the first eight engines for the prototype aircraft were supplied by the developers, and the rest were assembled in Japan from supplied parts (since 1972 they have been manufactured by the Japanese company Ishikawajima under license). The Adur engine has the following main characteristics: thrust without afterburner 2340 kg, at maximum afterburner 3350 kg, pressure ratio 11, bypass ratio 0.8, specific fuel consumption at an altitude of 12,000 m at speed M = 0.8 0.945 kg/kg-h, length 2970 mm, diameter 560 mm, weight 750 kg.
The aircraft's fuel system consists of a network of internal fuel tanks with a total capacity of 3820 liters. In addition, on the external hardpoints the aircraft can carry up to three tanks with a capacity of 830 liters (one under the fuselage and one under each wing console).
The aircraft cabin is equipped with two ES-7J ejection seats, located one behind the other (tandem). The rear one is installed 0.28 m higher than the front one. These seats provide crew members with the ability to eject both in flight and while taxiing or parking at the airfield. The cabin is equipped with a pressurization system, air conditioning and oxygen supply, as well as manual individual canopy reset systems.
The aircraft has two independent hydraulic systems with a working pressure of 210 kg/sq.cm, which operate the drives of the landing gear retraction and extension mechanisms, spoilers, brakes, and anti-skid devices. The aircraft's air system provides emergency landing gear release, cabin sealing and the operation of some other mechanisms. The main sources of electricity are two alternating current generators with a power of 12 and 15 kW.
The T-2(K)'s standard avionics system includes a Mitsubishi Electric J/AWG-11 search and navigation radar mounted in the nose of the aircraft; Thomson-CSF helmet-mounted display (HUD) from France, manufactured under license by Mitsubishi Electric; a Lear-Siegler 501OBL automatic guidance and reference system (AHRS); ultra high frequency (UHF) radio, identification friend or foe (IFF) system and TACAN radio beacon receiver system, all made in Japan. The J/AWG-11 radar is essentially a member of the radar family that equips the US F-4 Phantom , very similar to the AN/AWG-11 on the British Royal Navy 's Phantom FG.1 . The T-2(Z) lacked radar, although its avionics were clearly identical to the T-2(K). The aircraft’s armament consists of a built-in 20-mm six-barreled Vulcan cannon (ammunition capacity 200-750 rounds), located in the lower left part of the fuselage, Sidewinder air-to-air guided missiles, aerial bombs, unguided missiles and other weapons in various versions), placed on five external hardpoints (one under the fuselage and two under each wing console).
Due to the recovery of the Japanese aviation industry after the war, the T-1 , YS-11 , MU-22 and other aircraft models were successfully developed . In order to continue to cultivate the aviation industry, the Japanese Defense Agency decided in early 1967 to entrust domestic manufacturers to develop a new generation of supersonic jet trainers/attack aircraft, and in September of the same year, the XT-2 design of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was selected.
Work on the creation of this aircraft began in the late 1960s, when the Air Self-Defense Force began considering the development of a supersonic jet, provisionally named "TX". Japan realized that the Fuji T-1 subsonic jet trainer was not up to the task of training pilots to practice the complex and difficult handling of Mach 2 fighters. such as the Lockheed F-104J Starfighter and the McDonnell Douglas F-4EJ Phantom. Therefore, in 1964–1965, the JASDF began research on a new training aircraft named TX, which was expected to also form the basis for a future single-seat attack aircraft, the SF-X.
Japan also considered buying foreign aircraft instead of developing new aircraft when the United States offered the Northrop T-38 Talon and the British / French consortium SEPECAT offered the SEPECAT Jaguar. Japan considered both aircraft carefully and attempted to negotiate a license to produce the Jaguar, but these plans failed, possibly due to nationalism [3] and the high royalty payments that SEPECAT demanded. Finally, Japan decided to design its own aircraft similar to Jaguar to meet its own needs.
Greg Goebel noted: "The T-2's configuration was clearly reminiscent of that of the two-seat Jaguar, with the two aircraft having the same overall configuration and some resemblance in details. In particular, the T-2 was also powered by two Rolls-Royce / Turbomeca Adour turbofans, the same powerplants used by the Jaguar, with the engines license-built by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries under the designation "TF40-IHI-801A". However, the T-2 was also clearly not a copy of the Jaguar. The best way to describe the Jaguar's role in the T-2's design was as "inspirational". The two aircraft could be distinguished at a glance, with the T-2 having a more dartlike appearance, being noticeably longer and having a distinctly shorter wingspan than the Jaguar. The Japanese machine also had many detail differences -- for example, since the JASDF had no rough-field requirement, the T-2 had conventional single-wheeled landing gear and not the distinctive "farm tractor" landing gear of the Jaguar."
Its full-scale model was made in January 1969, and in March 1970, an agreement was concluded between the Air Force command and the Mitsubishi company to build two prototypes for flight tests and one airframe for static tests. The chief designer of the aircraft was Dr. Kenji Ikeda at Mitsubishi. After full-size prototyping in January 1969, the aircraft design was finally approved in March. In March 1970, a contract was signed for the production of the first prototype XT-2 (No. 19-5101). Static tests of the aircraft design took place in March 1971.
The first prototype XT-2 was rolled out on April 28, 1971, and made its first flight on July 20, 1971 under the control of pilots Kenshiro Endo and Mitsui Sato. On November 19 of the same year, in its 30th flight, the prototype for the first time exceeded the speed of sound in horizontal flight. The second prototype (No. 25-5102) first took off on December 9, 1971. The aircraft were transferred to the Air Force for flight testing in December 1971 and March 1972, respectively. In 1970, two more prototypes were ordered for flight testing, which first flew on April 28 and July 20, 1972. Flight testing of the T-2 was completed in March 1974, fatigue testing in January 1975. By October 1974, during flight tests, these aircraft had flown a total of about 1,000 hours.
Only a few problems were found during testing. For the series, only the spoilers had to be improved in terms of effectiveness and the wing root fairing had to be modified due to longitudinal instabilities . The only serious problem was the increase in cost from 3.5 to 5 million US dollars per unit, which almost led to the program being canceled in times of economic crisis and inflation .
Four companies participated in the production of the aircraft. Mitsubishi, as the main contractor, was responsible for the manufacture of the fuselage, final assembly and flight testing of the new aircraft. The Fuji company manufactured the wing, Nippi produced the pylons and launchers, and Shin Maywa produced the tail and outboard fuel tanks. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has produced a total of 88 T-2 trainer aircraft, of which 28 are advanced trainer aircraft, 58 are attack trainer aircraft (T-2A), and the other two are used to develop Mitsubishi F-1 attack aircraft. The Japanese Blue Thrust aerobatic team also used the Mitsubishi T-2 as its performance aircraft and latre switched to the Kawasaki T-4 trainer aircraft.
A total of 92 T-1 batch-produced basic and advanced training aircraft have been ordered; XT-2, T-2 prototype, a total of 4 aircraft were produced; T-2A advanced tactical trainer aircraft, used for combat training, with a total of 62 ordered. The first production aircraft out of 42 ordered was delivered in March 1975 to the 4th Air Wing at Matsushima Air Base . A total of 20 aircraft were delivered in 1975, and another 11 each in 1976 and 1977. Of these, 31 aircraft were manufactured in a training version, 11 in a combat training version. The 211 and 212 squadrons of the Self-Defense Forces Air Force were equipped with new aircraft. A total of 90 aircraft were produced, of which 28 were unarmed early type T-2(Z) trainers ( English Zenkigata ), and 62 were combat trainer T-2(K) late type ( English Kokigata ). Two T-2(Z) aircraft became prototypes for the F-1 strike aircraft , receiving the designation FS-T2-KAI . The last T-2 was manufactured in 1988.
All early models were retired except for special edition models, and the later models were gradually retired as they reached their limit of flight hours, but on March 2, 2006, it ended its 35-year history with the retirement of aircraft belonging to the Flight Development Test Wing at Gifu Air Base. It is also known as the aircraft used by the second generation Blue Impulse.
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