Kawasaki P-1

Kawasaki P-1
Type:	Maritime reconnaissance and submarine fighter aircraft
Design country:	Japan
Manufacturer:	Kawasaki Heavy Industries
First flight:	September 28, 2007
Commissioning:	March 29, 2013
Number of pieces:	33 (as of end of 2016)

Kawasaki P-1 in front of Mount Fuji

The Kawasaki P-1 (program name PX , initially also referred to as XP-1 ) is a maritime reconnaissance and submarine fighter aircraft of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces . It was developed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and is intended to replace the Lockheed P-3C .

history

The development of the aircraft began in 2001. The first flight of the machine took place September 28, 2007 at Gifu Air Base in Kakamigahara . The plan is to build around 70 aircraft costing around $ 140 million each to replace the 80 P-3C Orion.

Bottom view with extreme roll angle

The P-1 are currently (2019) used by two bases. Atsugi is the main operational base and Kanoya is an initial advanced base.

construction

Similar to the British Aerospace Nimrod and S-3 Viking , the P-1 is a jet-powered aircraft for submarine hunting. It shares some components with the Kawasaki C-2 transport aircraft developed at the same time and intended to replace the Kawasaki C-1 and C-130H . The low- wing aircraft is powered by four XF7-10 turbofan engines developed by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries . The highly developed flight control system has artificial intelligence and can calculate and display the best course to attack the discovered submarines. The aircraft is controlled via fly-by-light , which reduces electromagnetic interference compared to fly-by-wire systems, which is of great importance for the detection of submarines through magnetic field measurements . In addition to magnetic field sensors, the aircraft has sensors as well as radar with active electronic beam swiveling and infrared and video search systems.

Technical specifications

General data

Crew: 2 + mission crew
Length: 38 m
Span: 35 m
Height: 12 m
Takeoff weight: 80 t
Drive: 4 × IHI -XF7-10 turbofans with 50 kN thrust each

power

Cruising speed: 830 km / h
Range: 8000 km
Service ceiling: 13,520 m

Avionics

Radar : Toshiba, Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar System
Sonar : NEC, Multistatic sound navigation system Sound NEC Multistatic Sound navigation system
Anti-submarine systems: SHINKO ELECTRIC CO. LTD., Advanced Combat Direction System
Others: Mitsubishi - Electronic Countermeasures (CMD, RWR, MWS, ESM)

Armament

Explosive ordnance up to 9000 kg in an internal weapon bay and at eight external load stations

Air-to-ground guided missiles

4 × LAU-117 / A start rails for 1 × Raytheon AGM-65 "Maverick" each - video-guided
4 × Boeing AGM-84A / B / C "Harpoon" - radar-guided
4 × Mitsubishi ASM-1C (Type-91)

Torpedoes

8 × Alliant Techsystems Mk.46 light weight torpedo (diameter 324 mm)
8 × Mitsubishi Type 97 torpedo
8 × GRX-5 torpedo

Unguided free-fall bombs

disposable sea mines
dropable depth charges

Sonar buoys from discharge chutes

> 30 loaded

> 70 can be released from the inside

Web links

Commons : Kawasaki P-1 - collection of images, videos and audio files

PX Project ( Memento from September 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

^ First P-1 delivered to JMSDF. In: AIR International May 2013, p. 14
^ State-of-the-art P1 patrol aircraft to be deployed all over Japan. Asahi.com, July 30, 2019

[1] First P-1 delivered to JMSDF. In: AIR International May 2013, p. 14

[2] State-of-the-art P1 patrol aircraft to be deployed all over Japan. Asahi.com, July 30, 2019