Mitsuhide Si-40
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| Si-40 Shoki | |
|---|---|
| |
| Si-40 of the Imperial Air Force in flight. | |
| Role | Multi-Role Stealth |
| National origin |  FusouDevelopment Partners  Aldia Keija
|
| Manufacturer | Mitsuhide Heavy Industries |
| First flight | February 1st 2012 (Prototype #1 Si-40A) December 2012 (Prototype #2 Si-40B) May 2013 (prototype #3) |
| Introduction | March 3, 2015 (Si-40B) |
| Status | TBC |
| Primary users | Imperial Air Force Imperial Navy Other Operators Commonwealth Navy |
| Produced | TBC |
| Number built | 230 |
| Developed from | AR-50 (Avionics & Engines) R-279 (VTOL Capability)
|
The Mitsuhide Si-40 Shoki is a 5th Generation multirole combat aircraft with stealth capabilities of Fusou's Imperial Air Force and Imperial Navy. Originally initiated in 2008 as the ASF-X project, the design process was tendered to various corporations and three designs were submitted with the proposal from Mitsuhide Heavy Industries chosen as the winning design. The Si-40 was envisioned to have several capabilities & roles in mind primarily: sustained speeds of up to Mach 2, engage targets that are beyond visual range of the Si-40, providing air superiority, ground attack, electronic warfare and SIGINT roles. Si-40 is developed mainly by Mitsuhide Heavy Industries and was later joined by Arashi Aircraft Group from Aldia to provide Vertical Take Off & Landing capabilities with additional financial support provided from Keija. The Si-40 comes in a variety of variants but there are two primary ones: a Conventional Take Off & Landing variant stationed primarily at land-based air bases, and a carrier based Vertical Take Off & Landing stationed on aircraft carriers and even landing helicopter docks. The Fusou Armed Forces operates both the CTOL and VTOL variants whereas the Commonwealth Self-Defense Forces operates the VTOL variant onboards its aircraft carriers and LHDs.