Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin Japan stealth fighter demonstrator

At the beginning of the 21st century, JASDF seeking to replace its aging fleet of fighter aircraft, began making overtures to the United States on the topic of purchasing several F-22 Raptors for their own forces. However the U.S. Congress had banned the exporting of the aircraft in order to safeguard secrets of the aircraft's technology such as its extensive use of stealth; this rejection necessitated Japan to develop its own modern fighter, to be equipped with stealth features and other advanced systems. The Japanese Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) launched the "Advanced Technology Demonstrator ˇV X" (ATD-X) program. Mitsubishi was contracted to develop a research prototype that uses advanced stealth technology. A mock-up of the ATD-X was constructed and used to study the radar cross section in 2005. A radio-controlled 1/5 scale model made its first flight in 2006 to gain data on performance at high angles of attack and to test new sensory equipment and self-repairing flight control systems. Following these tests, The decision was taken in 2007 to go ahead with the project, The ATD-X is scheduled to first flight in 2016