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XF9-1 engine

Japan's XF9-1 engine, from the published picture, uses the same three-stage fan, six-stage high-pressure compressor, one-stage high-pressure turbine, and one-stage low-pressure turbine as the US F119 engine. The goal of the engine requires more than 11 tons of military thrust at sea level, and the maximum thrust to more than 15 tons, which is in the same level as the F119 engine of the F-22 fighter. The XF9-1 engine is about 4.8 meters in length, about 1 meters in diameter and more than 15 tons of thrust with afterburner, and more than 11 tons of intermediate thrust without. The XF9-1 engine has a diameter of 1 meter, the engine core has a maximum diameter of nearly 1.1 meters, and the overall length of the engine is 4.8 meters without other accessories. Japan claims that its pre-turbine temperature reached 1800 degrees Celsius.

Japanese industry revealed a drawing of the engine in 2011, showing that it would follow the general configuration of the Pratt & Whitney F119 and have a sophisticated arrangement of inlet vanes designed to disrupt radar reflections. In its budget request for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2013, the ministry published drawings of three of the engine's modules: fan, high-pressure section and the low-pressure turbine. The key goal of the engine program was to build an unusually slim turbofan. The low frontal area and the modest bypass ratio evident in drawings would both promote the ability to fly supersonically without afterburner.

Japan's defense ministry announced 29 June 2018 that the defense equipment department had received the prototype of the XF9-1 aero engine from the Japanese IHI company (formerly known as Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries). After receiving the prototype by the end of 2019, the testing of the prototype will be carried out to confirm the basic performance of the XF9-1 prototype. In other words, the more specific performance of the prototype still needs to be verified by a large number of experiments in a year and a half.

The developers said that XF9-1 has basically met the performance requirements of the design. With the adoption of Japan's material technology, the XF9-1 prototype core ensures a reliable operation at a 1800 degree temperature in front of the turbine, which has reached the level of the fourth generation of large aero turbofan engines.

In 2010, under the project plan for the "development of the main components of the next generation of engine", IHI proposed a fighter engine scheme using the world's most sophisticated technology and began to conduct related research on core components including compressor, combustor and high pressure turbine. In 2013, IHI accepted the commissioning of the "engine parts for fighter aircraft" and began designing and manufacturing the engine core. In June 2017, the nuclear machine was formally transferred to the defense equipment hall. In subsequent experiments, the core machine achieved a reliable operation of 1800 degrees.

At the same time, IHI also accepted the Commission of "the development of the fighter engine system" in 2015, and proposed the proposal to make use of the most advanced technology in the world "the development of the main components of the next generation engine". With the assistance of other enterprises in state-owned enterprises, IHI has been developed on the basis of the developed core machine, including the front fan, the rear low pressure turbine, the afterburner, the engine nozzle, and the internal parts of the engine, and the development of the XF9-1 engine. In June 2018, it confirmed that the engine met the scheduled performance and handed over to the equipment defense agency.

From 2010 to the development of components to the manufacturing of the core machine in 2013, and then to the development of the engine in 2015, if the time node is seen, the speed of the development of the engine is almost the same as that of the high performance engine such as the F100 in the United States during the cold war.

The delivery of such a prototype is very exciting for the Japanese. The XF9-1 was just a prototype machine for testing, with some distance from a real fighter engine. The "predecessor" XF5-1 engine was also successfully completed from 1995 to 2000, but the test was completed from 1997 to 2008, and the XF5 engine was only flying in 2016, and the FX-2 could not be said to be a fighter.

When will Japan's fifth generation fighter come out? That is another problem in the field of far - over technology. Japanese companies and some legislators are eager to develop a fifth generation machine, but Japan's domestic development and production of large equipment prices are extremely expensive, production efficiency is very low, and the status of the Japanese manufacturing power is very disproportionate, its basic reason is that today's military technology and civil technology have produced a serious differentiation.

As the example of "using Japanese advanced materials to reach the 1800 degree of the front of the turbine", the probability is very low, and most of it is shown in the specific single technology. It is rare in the system integration project. The difference from the single subsystem to the molding equipment is becoming more and more obvious.

However, it is because of the difference in military and civil technology that Japan has to invest a lot of money to develop military aero engines, to study large equipment - and to maintain the R & D and manufacturing capabilities of military technology. Although Japan's homemade military engines may never be mounted on a fighter plane, its own large equipment is too expensive and difficult to use, but it is seen as worthwhile to spend the money on the opportunity for "exercise" for scientific research teams and workers in Japan.