1:72 Kawasaki A-2 'サソリ'(Sasori), aircraft ‘(46-5)720’ of the JASDF 309th Hikotai (Tactical Fighter Squadron) コブラ ('Kobura'/Cobras), 3rd Air Wing; Misawa Air Base (Aomori Prefecture, Northeast Japan), 2015 (What-if/modified Hasegawa kit)

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

 

 

Some Background:

During November 1981, Kawasaki was selected as the main contractor to design and manufacture a suitable trainer aircraft to meet the needs of Japan's MT-X program, having beaten out rival bids from Mitsubishi and Fuji. The MT-X program had been launched to procure a replacement for the aging Lockheed T-33 and Fuji T-1 jet trainer aircraft then in service in the Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF). Furthermore, there was also a desire for the prospective trainer aircraft to take over some of the syllabus that was being handled by the contemporary Mitsubishi T-2, a supersonic trainer variant of the Mitsubishi F-1 fighter aircraft. The initial program planned for a production run of 220 aircraft and an entry into service date of 1988.

The type had to demonstrate a range of transonic aerodynamic effects, as well as achieving a high level of maneuverability, a relatively low operating cost, and high reliability levels. Easy handling was also required so that trainees could convert from the piston-engine Fuji T-3 after accumulating only 70 flying hours. Furthermore, the economics for operating the type was to be comparable to the leading international competitors at that time.

 

The design had to incorporate other political desires as well. There was a great value placed upon powering the type with the first all-Japanese production turbofan engine, the Ishikawajima-Harima F3-IHI-30. Reportedly, the selection of a twin-engine configuration for the trainer was one of the easiest decisions taken, being made not just for engine power but from a high priority being placed upon safety. A robust, damage-tolerant, and long-lived structure was also specified for the trainer; to achieve this, it was decided to make limited use of composite materials in the form of carbon fiber and kevlar in areas such as the nose tip and elements of the rear wing, tail unit, and undercarriage. Extensive use of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) techniques was also applied.

 

Out of these efforts emerged the T-4, a clean-sheet indigenously developed trainer aircraft. According to aerospace publication Flight International, it was considered plausible for the T-4 to have been a competitive product upon the global trainer aircraft market if it had been priced appropriately, but such export opportunities were denied by a long-standing Japanese policy that prevented any military export sales. As such, there was no realistic prospect of the type being sold to overseas customers and it was from the start developed with the understanding that the T-4 would be used only by the JASDF.

 

On 29 July 1985, the prototype for the type, designated as the XT-4, performed its maiden flight. On 28 June 1988, the first production T-4 conducted its first flight; deliveries to the JASDF began in September of that year. Manufacture of the T-4 was performed by a consortium consisting of Mitsubishi, Fuji, and Kawasaki, the latter providing leadership over the venture. Originally, an eight-year production run was planned for, but production was resumed in the late Nineties for a dedicated attack variant of the T-4, the Kawasaki A-2.

 

The A-2 had its roots in the Japanese FS-X program that eventually spawned the Mitsubishi F-2 multirole fighter, the result of lengthy and tedious negotiations between Japan and the USA that had started in 1984. The F-2 was derived from the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, with a 60/40 split in manufacturing between Japan and the United States. The basis of the F-2's design was the F-16 “Agile Falcon”, an unsuccessful offer by General Dynamics to provide a low-cost alternative for the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition that eventually yielded the USAF’s F-22.

F-2 production started in 1996 and the first aircraft entered service in 2000, even though production numbers remained low and in 2008 only the 76th of 98 planned production aircraft had entered service. The F-2 was to replace Japan’s first indigenous supersonic fighter aircraft, the F-1, and Japan’s aging F-4EJ fleet in the strike role. However, the F-2’s concept and the F-1 retirement left the JASDF with a tactical gap in the homeland defense: a sturdy and relatively light and economical strike aircraft that would primarily operate at low altitude and over home terrain, to support ground forces, fend off potential landing troops and attack naval targets relatively close to the coastline. Taking out small, moving ground targets with precision ammunition and engaging enemy helicopters and low-flying aircraft were also included into the aircraft’s requirements.

 

Again, Japan decided to go its own way and develop an indigenous solution, called the LA-X program, tailored to domestic needs. To save development time and money (and learning from previous projects that had taken much longer than expected to materialize), the existing Kawasaki T-4 airframe was chosen as development basis in 1993. What spoke for the T-4 was its sturdy, damage-tolerant structure, ease of maintenance and the existence of a complete infrastructure within the JASDF. The T-4’s production line at Kawasaki's plant in Gifu was also still fully available, and it was assumed that the first production aircraft would arrive at JASDF units from 1998 on.

 

To create a true attack aircraft from the two-seat trainer, considerable modifications had to be made. The most obvious and dramatic change was a completely new front section with an armored cockpit for just a single pilot and the integration of an internal gun. The nose was lowered and wedge-shaped to improve the pilot’s field of view, which also sat further forward now. This was further improved by unusually deep side windows that greatly enhanced the pilot's field of view downwards. To generate space for new/additional equipment in the nose tip (see below) the new twin wheel front landing gear now retracted backwards. The cockpit glazing consisted of flat, armored panels and gave the aircraft a rather brutish look, reminiscent of the Soviet Suchoj Su-25 “Frogfoot”. Additional composite armor material was integrated into the lower fuselage to protect the cockpit, the engines and other vital components placed between them. The odd new cockpit arrangement quickly earned the aircraft the nickname 'Sasori' (Scorpion Fish, which was never officially adopted but frequently used in public media and even in military circles.

 

Under the nose tip was a small turret with a laser rangefinder/target designator for precision ammunitions, Mk82 and M117 smart bombs outfitted with the indigenous GCS-1 IR seeker head could be deployed, too.

While the aircraft did not feature a search radar with a classic radome in the nose to keep the pilot's field if view free, an avionics pallet with a relatively simple J/AWG-12 radar could be mounted in the electronics bay behind the cockpit, and using one of the MFDs in the cockpit to show the radar's readings. However, under the nose and behind the small laser sensor turret, a flat doppler radar scanner was installed to enhance low-level operations and navigation. To make the optional J/AWG-12 operational, though, a small radome had to be carried in an external pod, normally on one of the stations under the air intakes. This gave the LA-X high operational flexibility and even a limited all-weather capability. The radar also enabled the aircraft deploy the indigenous Type 80 and Type 93 (also known as ASM-1 and -2, respectively) air-to-ground missiles, primarily against naval targets but also capable of engaging land targets.

 

In the lower hull, mounted into the right side of the landing gear well, a 25mm Oerlikon KBA autocannon was integrated, a potent weapon that was already in use by the JGSDF and mounted to some light armored vehicles. The Oerlikon KBA was a positively locked, gas-operated cannon with a rotating bolt head and a dual-belt selective feed system. The nominal rate of fire in burst mode was 600 rpm but it could be adjusted electronically and reduced from single shots through four-round bursts to a selectable automatic fire range between 175 to 300 rounds per minute. For the LA-X it was rigged to a new lightweight mount, which itself was fixed to a service pallet that could be lowered for easy field maintenance. Ammunition was carried in two containers that held up 150 rounds each and could be quickly exchanged, reducing turnaround time, too. Due to its firepower, its range of available ammunition types and an "Instant Ammunition Selection Device" (IASD), which allowed the gunner to easily switch between armor-piercing and high-explosive rounds from the two feeds, the KBA cannon could effectively engage a wide range of targets, including lightly armored vehicles, infantry, anti-tank positions, helicopters, combat aircraft and even ships.

 

Other visible differences from the T-4 were enlarged leading edge extensions at the wing roots that improved the aircraft’s low-speed handling, and small wing fences. Not visible were several reinforcements to fuselage, landing gear and the wings, so that the aircraft could better cope with the raised overall weight and the expected rigid maneuvers at low altitude while maintaining the T-4’s service life expectancy of 7.500 flying hours. The number of hardpoints was raised from five to nine – an additional pair of pylons was added to the wing tips for defensive air-to-air missiles like the AIM-9 Sidewinder or the indigenous AAM-3/Type 90 missile. Another pair of hardpoints was added underneath the air intakes, even though these could only hold light loads of up to 500 lb (227 kg) each and were primarily intended to carry external sensor pods like an LANTIRN system for all-weather capabilities or ECM pods. However, single Mk. 82 bombs or LAU-7 pods with unguided 70 mm rockets could be carried on them, too.

 

With a raised ordnance load of 3,000 kg (6,614 lb) and the changes to the airframe, the LA-X’s maximum TOW was raised from 7.500 kg (16,535 lb) to 10.000 kg (22.026 lb). This was compensated for through uprated Ishikawajima-Harima F3-400-I turbofan engines, a development of the T-4’s F3-IHI-30 engines. The F3-400-I featured an upgraded high-pressure turbine and an improved FADEC, which delivered 25% more thrust and could theoretically even be outfitted with an afterburner, even though this was not intended for the LA-X. Overall performance, except for the initial rate of climb, did not change much, though.

 

Despite its T-4 ancestry, the LA-X received a separate JASDF service designation and became the A-2.

The overall development lasted – notwithstanding the attempt to speed the process up – for almost ten years, though. The first serial production A-2s were delivered in late 2002 and gradually replaced the last operational Mitsubishi F-1 fighter bombers in JASDF service until 2006. A total of 64 machines were ordered and produced; the final batch of eight factory-new A-2s was delivered until 2008, and the machines were allocated to two wings, based in Southern and Northern Japan, the JASDF's 308th and 309th hikotai, respectively.

 

 

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 12,02 m (39 ft 4 1/2 in) hull only

12,95 m (42 ft 5 in) overall

Wingspan: 9.94 m (32 ft 7 in),

10,15 m (33 ft 3 in) with wing tip missile launch rails

Height: 4.75 m (15 ft 6 3/4 in)

Wing area: 22.00 m² (223.75 sq ft)

Aspect ratio: 4.7:1

Empty weight: 4.100 kg (9,030 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 10.000 kg (22,025 lb)

Fuel capacity: 2,241 L (493 imp gal; 592 US gal) internal fuel

 

Powerplant:

2× Ishikawajima-Harima F3-400-I turbofans, with 20,5 kN (4,610 lbf) thrust each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1.102 km/h (684 mph, 599 kn) at sea level

Stall speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 87 kn)

Range: 1,668 km (1,036 mi, 901 nmi) with two 450 L (99 imp gal; 120 US gal) drop tanks

Service ceiling: 15,240 m (50,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 70 m/s (13,760 ft/min)

 

Armament

1× internal 25mm Oerlikon KBA autocannon with a total of 300 rounds in two magazines

9× hardpoints (2 on wingtips, 4 underwing, 3 under the fuselage) with a total external ordnance

capacity of 3,000 kg (6,614 lb), including guided and unguided missiles and bombs, drop tanks,

ECM and sensor pods, practice bombs, or target towing equipment

 

 

The kit and its assembly:

In the past, I have converted a number of Kawasaki T-4s into fictional Saab Sk 90 trainers, even though these were primarily cosmetic and not structural mods. When I recently finished a Hungarian Sk 90 in a soviet-style sand/green livery, it struck me that the T-4’s outlines resemble those of the (bigger) Suchoj Su-25’s a lot. From this inspiration the idea of a single-seater attack variant of the T-4 for the JASDF, maybe as a simpler/modest replacement for the indigenous F-1 for 2000 onward, was born.

 

Adapting the two-seater to the attack role required a new cockpit section, and I went for a thorough conversion: instead of simply making it a single seater from OOB parts (like the Mitsubishi F-1 with a faired-over rear cockpit) I transplanted the front section from a Eurocopter PAH-1 Tiger, with its short nose, the whole front cockpit and the flat panel canopy. It turned out to be a little wider than the T-4 fuselage, but the area behind the new cockpit had to be sculpted with 2C putty, anyway, so I wrapped this filler section around the whole hull, smoothing out the transitional area. The result looks pretty brutal, though!

 

Due to the modified cockpit position the front landing gear well was modified (effectively reversed) and a sturdier front wheel strut with twin wheels was installed.

The rest of the hull as well as the wing surfaces were taken OOB. Bigger LERXs and small wing fences were sculpted from 0.5mm styrene sheet. Missile launch rails from an Italeri BAe Hawk were added and blended into the rounded original wing tips, too, as well as an additional pair of underwing pylons and hardpoints under the fuselage and the air intakes.

 

The ordnance, consisting of a pair of ASM-1 missiles as well as four IR-guided Mk. 82 bombs on twin racks and a pair of AAM-3 missiles on the wing tips came from a Hasegawa 1:72 JASDF weapon set. A small LANTIRN pod was scratched from a piece of sprue and mounted to one of the hardpoints under the air intakes.

 

 

Painting and markings:

Finding a suitable yet somewhat authentic livery for the A-2 was not easy. I initially favored a bronze green/dark earth “tiger stripe” livery with additional black contrast lines, similar to the JASDF AH-1s, but eventually rejected that because it would IMHO not work well on a fast aircraft that would also operate a lot over naval terrain.

After some search I settled on a rather fragmented (but quite attractive) “Lizard/Europe One” camouflage variant, carried by Japanese C-130s, consisting of FS 34092, 34102 and 36118, with uniform grey undersides. For the model I used Humbrol 149, 117 and 125, respectively. The enamel paints turned partyl out to be of dubious Chinese production (both green tones), so that the paint finish did not turn out as good as expected - too much paint ended up on the model to make the paint coats truly opaque. Later post-shading with slightly lighter tones, after a black ink washing, mended the issue a little, but unfortunately the overall paint quality is rather poor. Hrmpf. :-(

 

The cockpit tub was painted in anthracite (Revell 06), while the air intakes and the landing gear and its respective wells were painted in glossy white - very conservative. The Japanese Sidewinders and the ASM-1s became medium grey, while the IR-guided bombs received blue training bodies (instead of "hot" iron bombs in olive drab) as a nice color detail.

 

Decals/markings mostly came from the T-4's OOB sheet, and as a final step the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish what somewhat improved the poor paint finish, too - but's still not what I expected to achieve.

 

 

Even though primarily onle the nose was changed this conversion made the stubby T-4 look like a very much different aircraft - and it inspires many associations, including Su-25 and Yak-130 elements, you can see a gekko and even a scorpion fish in it (what eventually earned it its nichname ;-)). While the paint finish is not as convincing as hoped for I think the overall impression of a JASDF attack aircraft is certainly there, the A-2 looks quite plausible (and ugly, too!).

Done