Off-Topic

] but since the F-22 is almost an entirely defensive weapon,

The F-22J can be a defensive weapon, if it carries only Sidewinders, and has a combat radius no farther than the JASDF ADIZ.

] The Japanese will likely get it if they want it badly enough, but there will be objections within Japan as an F22 deal will likely kill off their own aviation industry.

When the FS-X/F-2 deal established, the Jap and US aviation industries distrusted each other. Part of the US aviation industry feared teaching the Jap aviation industry to co-develop and system-integrate an advanced front-line jet fighter would kill off the US civilian and military aviation industry. The Jap aviation industry already had the same hi-tech that the US had, such as co-cured composite materials and phase-array radar.
Two decades later, the Jap aviation industry remains meek, compared to Airbus and Boeing, but not dead.

The problem is: whether US would allow tech-transfer of F-22 technologies to Japan?
(IMO, the US already allowed Japan to operate USAF AWACS (E-767) and USN Aegis (Kongou Class), but hasn’t seemed to share anything from the B-2, F-117, and F-22 with Japan yet.)

] Japan replaces their vintage 1977 F-4EJs. Granted, they are replacing them with the most advanced fighter in the world but China could not be surprised by this move.

Japan already retired its F-1 fleet, and will retire its F-4 fleet. Decades ago, Japan also replaced its F-4 in the interceptor role, by the then most advanced fighter in the world, the F-15.
The question is: can the JMOD budget afford to pay 2-3 times the USAF price for each F-22J?

] As usual their protests will be in vain, see Taiwan block 52+ deal.

The ROCAF F-16s were only F-16A/B Block 20/25, IIRC. Also, when Bush I allowed the sale, it was a presidential election year, or just before one. He had the duty and interest to preserve jobs at General Dynamics.
Northrop was trying to sell the F-20 to Taiwan, but the crashes of the F-20 prototypes, and the F-16 sale to Taiwan, killed the F-20 effort.
Besides, the ROCAF didn’t just bought only US F-16s. It realised the “European leverage” and bought French Mirage 2000-5s.

] and the South Koreans have a very short memory,…I can’t see them climbing into bed with the people that aided their invaders 50 years ago…

Koizumi and other recent Jap prime ministers have certainly helped China and ROK unite their stances towards Japan. 8b And IMO, the ROKs have way more nationalism and patriotism than the Chinese.

] including the disputed Senkaku islands which China claims is theirs, but Japan claims is theirs as it is part of the Ryukyu Kingdom which was annexed by Japan.

The Diao Yu Tai Islands (DYT Islands) are Taiwanese ownership, but under Japanese jurisdiction, just as before 1997, Hong Kong was Chinese ownership, but under British jurisdiction.
Conspiracy theorists claim it is an US conspiracy when US returned jurisdiction of Okinawa to Japan (only a few decades after WWII) in 1972 (IIRC), US included the DYT Islands in Okinawa, instead of returning them to Taiwan.

Off-Topic

Is there a way to get that Flug Revue link in English?

The usual suspect:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

The Taiwanese F-104 fan site I mentioned before, at
http://www.taconet.com.tw/AdTaconet/-ee12044da18921c49fe29bc377e0d158|1177507828-/dynamic_frame.htm?sid=johnstin/Starfighters/family/F-104G.htm&TACO=ee12044da18921c49fe29bc377e0d158|1177507828
claims the F-104G has the F15A-41B NASARR (North American Search And Ranging Radar) radar, with air-to-air and air-to-mud modes; and has seven hard-points: one centre-line, two under-fuselage, two under-wing, two wing-tip.

XT-2

The book “Mitsubishi T-2, Famous Airplanes of the World No.116” (Bunrindou, 2006.07.05)
http://7andy.yahoo.co.jp/books/detail?accd=07167166
has a chapter written by Mori Satoshi, former JASDF pilot and XT-2 test pilot.
Retired on 1995.03.23. Total flight time 4,505.5 hours.

After he joined the XT-2 test pilot course, he and his classmates went to Gifu AB, Gifu Prefecture, to observe the first ground test of the ES-7J zero-zero ejection seats.
Involved only the cockpit or front part of the XT-2. Front seat had no canopy. Rear seat had canopy.

The front seat sequence, if according to plan: countdown, ignition, ejection seat ejected, dummy’s seat and ejection seat separated, drogue chute of dummy’s seat opened, and consequently main chute opened. But…
After the countdown, the ejection seat ignited and ejected, and the dummy’s seat and ejection seat separated.
The drogue chute of the dummy’s seat did not open, because it did not have enough air flow or wind.
The main chute did not open, and the dummy and its seat crash-landed.

The rear seat sequence, if according to plan: countdown, ignition, ejection seat ejected through the canopy, dummy’s seat and ejection seat separated, drogue chute of dummy’s seat opened, and consequently main chute opened. But…
After the countdown, the ejection seat ignited, but cannot shatter the canopy.
The rear cockpit filled with fire and white smoke, and the dummy was cooked.

Mori and his classmates whispered: who would ride this aircraft?

Later, the designers re-designed the ejection seats, and successfully tested them. For example, a penetrator was added to the top part of the ejection seat that first hit the canopy, to crack the canopy. Then, a pusher (flat plate) was added to shatter the canopy.

Just Rambling

I’ve been reading English military aviation mags since I studied Engineering in the 1980s.
In August 2003, when a HKGFS (Hong Kong Government Flying Service) crashed in Hong Kong and martyred its three crew, I translated and cross-posted by e-mail, the accident details to the few English military aviation mags I was still reading, and English military aviation news sites.

I was encouraged when some editors of the mags and sites (including AFM) acknowledged my contribution, and commented that sources of details of military aviation accidents in Asia were uncommon, because of language barrier, and lack of consistent/persistent contributions from multi-lingual Asian Netters.
Thus, I continue to “regularly” translate and contribute such news to such mags and sites, as such accidents happen; particularly in the Northeast Asia theatre: China, Japan, Koreas, and Taiwan.

For clarification, an accident can be a major event, when one or more military aircraft crashed, and one or more pilots/crew bought the farm, with collateral damage to lives and properties on the ground.
Or, an accident can be a minor event, such as an emergency landing and TOFA (Things Falling Off Aircraft: canopy, fuel tank, kitchen sink, &c).
Contrary to popular disbelief/misbelief, I cheer only the accidents that happen in Japan, and only when the involved pilots or crew aren’t wounded.

As time goes by and more accidents happen, I become curious about the histories of military aviation accidents in China, Japan, Koreas, and Taiwan; and on-line researched, on and off, such histories.

IMO, the “fun” is the (sense of) discovery of the details of the military aviation accidents.
A typical beginning might be a chronology at a site, which lists only the date, air force, and crashed aircraft type. For example, a Japanese military aircraft crashed on (random number) 1999.11.22.

The “fun” is to discover: is the aircraft assigned to the JASDF, JCG, JGSDF, or JMSDF? Is the aircraft a fixed-wing or rotary wing?
When and where does it crash? What’s it doing when it crashes? (During training, landing, returning to base, taking off, &c.)
Does the pilot or crew survive? The pilot’s photo, rank, and name?

Some deductions are easy. For example, a F-4EJ/EJ Kai or F-15J/DJ fan site may have the concise details of every crashed F-4EJ/EJ Kai or F-15J/DJ.
Or, an aviation accident investigation site may have the full reports of certain aviation accidents involving civilian or military aircraft.

Some deductions are hard. For example, when I moved up the ladder of JASDF F-X, from the F-15J/DJ, through the F-4EJ/EJ Kai, to the F-104J/DJ and F-86D/F.
The details of some such 1950s to 1960s vintage JASDF/JGSDF/JMSDF crashes are available today, because of the transparency of the Japanese government, ie, because they were discussed by government officials and legislators, and recorded in publicised government meeting transcripts.

Lastly, I await the first crash, later or sooner, of the new AH-64DJ, F-2A/B, or MCH-101. 8D

http://www.j-aircraft.com/captured/index.htm

Photos of WWII Jap aircraft captured and flown by Allies, and vice versa.

“If you have something that you’d like to contribute, send it to [email]captured@j-aircraft.com[/email] and we’ll get it posted. When you submit an item, please attribute it to it’s proper source so that information can be posted as well.”

Republic of Taiwan

] Any and all help is appreciated.

The usual suspects, eh, popular F-104 fan sites with active SysOps, are:

http://www.916-starfighter.de
http://www.amarc.dk/cms
http://www.i-f-s.nl/

At least these are the sites to which I’ve been sending ROCAF F-104 data, in the past month.

] Sorry Don, I’m going to have to hijack the thread back to talking about F-104’s
] that aren’t crashing. 🙂

Miss ROCAF 4420 hasn’t crashed yet. 8P

] I’m most interested in the F-104G. What AAM’s did it carry during its time in

I’ll take a look at a ROCAF fan site or two.

] FWIW, a Taiwanese F-104 fan site in Chinese, at
] http://www.fighters.idv.tw/

Grr. The (lazy) direct links to the sub-frames don’t seem to work.

Go to the basic title page, at
http://www.fighters.idv.tw/
click the Starfighter F-104 emblem, and in the next page = index page, click the links in the left frame.

Even when you can’t display or read the Chinese fonts, the URLs of the links are self-explanatory, such as Gallery, Sound, and Film.