This is intended mainly to talk about that equipment that did not appear in the first season, or was used in both seasons and I decided to put here for consistency. The other stuff from the first season can be found in Part 1 of this project. Part 1 can be found here
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-4EJ Kai
The history and information for the original airframe can be found here. Continuing from there, Japan acquired a dramatically downgraded version of the US F-4E in 1968 as the F-4EJ. These removed aerial refueling, all nuclear capabilities, and almost all ground attack support systems. They were to be pure interceptors and nothing else. 138 were produced by Mitsubishi, while 14 completely unarmed RF-4E photoreconnaissance aircraft were purchased straight from US production.
In the early 1980s, the ASDF decided to go the Israeli route, and use the recently-acquired F-15J as an air superiority fighter (with the new F-1 as its secondary backup), while the F-4EJ would be directed more towards being maritime strike platform. As the F-4EJ had almost no ground attack capability, this obviously required an upgrade, and the upgraded aircraft, known as the F-4EJ Kai, first flew in 1984. This basically returned all the originally removed capabilities (except support for nuclear weapons delivery), added an improved APG-66 radar from the F-16, and introduced a HUD to improve combat effectiveness in all areas. The new aircraft could carry 2 of the Harpoon-class ASM-1 or ASM-2 missiles, but was not intended to be equipped with guided ground attack munitions (the "no offensive weapons" thing). Initial orders were for 110 aircraft, enough to equip 4-5 squadrons, but this was later reduced to 96. In addition to the F-4EJ, 15 recon aircraft would also be upgraded with the sensor and avionic improvements to a new RF-4EJ standard. First deliveries were in 1989.
The F-4EJ was partially replaced in the '90s and '00s by the new Mitsubishi F-2, but due to issues with that program, the replacement was never completed. As such, 3 squadrons remain in frontline service. These are intended to eventually be replaced by 2 squadrons of F-35A fighters, but that deal may fall through depending on the F-35 Program's fortunes. Even if it does, the F-4s are quite old and will need to be retired soon either way.
GOD
That identifier is most certainly not random, and is an in-joke itself. There's an old US military saying, derived from the cocky attitudes commonly displayed by certain classes of soldier: "You are not god. Marines and fighter pilots take note." The irony of this guy later making a dumb mistake and getting his plane roasted should not be lost.
GBU-12 Paveway II
The iconic Paveway system, like the more recent JDAM, is not a bomb itself, but rather a kit that's attached to a standard Mk.80 series low-drag bomb. The Mk.80 series were designed based on studies in the late-1940s to determine how to minimize drag and therefore allow higher aircraft performance while carrying external bombs. However, they did not have the explosive power of then-current weapons, and therefore did not see much use prior to the Vietnam War, where high performance strike aircraft that gained significant benefits from them became common. The Mk.80 series included the following: Mk.81 250 lb, Mk.82 500 lb, Mk.83 1000 lb, and Mk.84 2000 lb weapons. The Mk.81 was deemed ineffective, and withdrawn from service during Vietnam. Ironically, it's seeing a resurgence as a guided bomb due to the same limited lethality that got it withdrawn. The Mk.82 became the standard "dumb" bomb of the United States Military. In the 1960s, as guided missiles started becoming useful against a wide range of targets, the concept of a guided bomb, which was not powered, but much cheaper than the missiles, started to gain traction.
The original Paveway project was started by Texas Instruments in 1964, but its limited budget prevented the development of an entire munition. Thus, only a snap-on guidance kit for existing bombs was developed. These consist of a nose section with the seeker and guidance fins, and a tail section with fins for gliding and stability. Using the then-current M117 750-lb bomb, the system was tested domestically in 1965, and in Vietnam in 1968.
By this time the Air Force had renewed and expanded the contract, though with an extremely ambitious timeline. At this point, there were three related projects: Paveway 1 laser guided munition, Paveway 2 electro-optical (then called TV) guided munition, and Paveway 3 infrared guided munition. The Paveway 3 was never deployed, and while superior all-around, the Paveway 2 cost several times as much as the Paveway 1. It was determined that, since situations where the Paveway 1 couldn't be used were rare, and the cost difference between the Paveway 2 and existing missiles was not that great, that all effort would focus on the Paveway 1 program. The others were dropped. The accepted weapon, now called Paveway I (not much of a change, but relevant) did not see widespread service. Instead, it was supplanted by the improved Paveway II in the 1970s. The newer weapon had pop-out rear fins that improved glide range, and a more accurate seeker.
Now, despite the idea of laser guidance being "good enough," it had, and still has, some major drawbacks. Especially with how the Paveway II makes course corrections (it overcorrects, wobbling from side to side). This played to a major weakness: the designating laser must be hitting the target for the entire time it's guiding the bomb. Otherwise, the bomb will likely never regain the target, and land well away from it. It's also, obviously, completely useless in bad weather or if the enemy can deploy an effective smoke screen. And, of course, something has to designate the target with the laser - this usually requires either a targeting pod on the launching aircraft (or a buddy), or a ground-based designator.
Still, the unit was satisfactory, and this Paveway II project resulted in a series of weapons: the GBU-10 kit was optimized for the Mk.84 2000-lb bomb, or it's cousin, the BLU-109 "bunker buster." The GBU-12 was designed for the ubiquitous Mk.82 500-lb bomb, and the GBU-16 went to the Mk.83 1000-lb weapon. However, they were still not entirely satisfactory. Because of their method of altering their course, the Paveway IIs lost energy rapidly, and their actual ability to glide was limited. Thus, pilots treated them more like precision-guided free-fall bombs than glide ones like they were supposed to be. So, in 1976, the USAF put out a contract to develop the Paveway III, which would finally enter service in 1986. The Paveway III would have a better seeker with a wider field of view, greater accuracy, a better steering method, and . . . a much higher price tag. While the weapon was everything the USAF wanted, its higher cost dictated it only be used on high-value targets, and it therefore never fully replaced the Paveway II. The Paveway III came in the GBU-22 Mk.82 (not used by US, but sold to some allies), GBU-24 Mk.84/BLU-109, GBU-27 BLU-109 (specialized for F-117's bomb bay), and the related GBU-28 super bunker buster. This last one, while using Paveway systems for guidance, is not built around an existing bomb, but instead an artillery gun barrel filled with explosives. Whatever works.
But, always looking for ways to improve the system, an "enhanced" version of the Paveway was developed with the rise of GPS in the '90s. This was first ordered by the US Navy in 2005. This new version incorporates a GPS or other inertial navigation system such that the weapon can hit an area target even without a designating laser, while offering improved accuracy with said laser. It was eventually designated GBU-48 (Mk.83), GBU-49 (Mk.82), GBU-50 (Mk.84/BLU-109), and reintroduced the 250-lb version as a regular Paveway II (GBU-58) so it could also have the enhanced version (GBU-59). Continued developments led to the Paveway IV, which was designed and built for the export market, and was introduced to European militaries in 2008. It does not have a GBU designation since it's not a US military project, and comes only in the 500-lb class. It has nifty new features like an air-burst mode. European nations in particular are making use of it, but the US decided to instead focus on the newer JDAM and SDB systems.
As noted, just about every US ally that has been able to afford an air force has procured Paveway bomb kits, Japan included. In fact, Japan emphasized them more than most owing to the fact that they have much more limited "offensive" applications than standoff missiles. The weapon pictured appears to be a 500-lb class (I could be wrong), which would of course be the least likely to cause excessive damage to surrounding buildings. The distinctive ring on the nose section is absent from the Paveway III series, and it's obvious they'd use the cheaper weapon anyway. One thing to notice is that, while they approach at low altitude, the planes are relatively high when the bomb hits. There is a very good reason for this: The bomb maintains the launching aircraft's forward momentum, and thus, if it's too low, the aircraft is at risk of getting caught in the blast. For this reason, there are variants of "dumb" bombs that have some method of slowing the weapon's descent or forward momentum, known as "retarded" bombs. The Paveway II system has no such safety features. The more expensive Paveway III does, but it's honestly better just to drop the thing from a safe altitude - usually at least 3000 ft (900 meters).
Fox-02, Fox-03, etc
There was some discussion on this on the episode discussion, but we might as well address the issues here. First off, these are best transliterated as "Fox Two" and "Fox Three." While it conveys the intention, there is no "Fox Ten" or "Fox Eleven," so the zero placeholder is either superfluous or even potentially confusing.
But more importantly, the "Fox ____" series was developed in response to the more diverse methods of engaging enemies that began to appear in the 1960s and 1970s. This was standardized so that all NATO and most US allied air forces use the same terms, even if the pilots don't speak actual English. The intention was to convey the necessary information as to how a target was being engaged as concisely as possible, and with no issue regarding language barriers or pronounciation. This information is important to the degree that it provides warning for friendly units as to what's happening, and lets commanders keep track of what weapons are being expended (and thus what's left). Depending on how you look at it, there are either four or five codes contained in the series:
"Fox One" indicates the launch of a semi-active radar guided missile. For the US, this has always been the AIM-7 Sparrow, but NATO allies would use it for launching similar weapons like the Italian Aspide, or the French R.530 and Super 530. "Fox Two" has historically been the most common, and indicates launching an infrared-guided (heat-seeking) missile such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder, ASRAAM, IRIS-T, Magic, Python, etc. "Fox Three" indicates an active radar guided missile. When the code was introduced, the only such weapon, anywhere, was the US Navy's AIM-54 Phoenix, though this would later include the AIM-120 AMRAAM, MICA, Meteor, and Derby. "Fox Four" was the original term for firing guns, though this quickly gave way to just simply saying "Guns," usually three times.
The error here is obvious: those planes are firing guns, and do not even have an active radar guided missile to launch. They should not be saying "Fox Three," but rather "Guns." The "Fox Two," however, was correct.
You'll also notice some other terms of interest. "Bingo," for example, is a term representing the minimum fuel needed to safely reach an intended friendly airbase and conduct a normal, non-emergency landing. Since this includes a "reserve" to cover possible problems or needs to divert to an alternate base, it does not, as widely believed, represent any kind of emergency state. However, generally speaking, pilots do not want to drop below "Bingo" just in case the unexpected happens. And if they reach it and have the ability to break off the current operation, pilots should, though not necessarily will, return to base (you guessed, it: RTB).
Kawasaki C-1
This is not a C-2. This is not a C-17 (which Japan doesn't even have). A quick side-by-side comparison of these shots with pictures of those planes debunks those myths quite handily. Besides, they're sending the outdated stuff to the special region, not the best and newest. That out of the way:
When Japan reconstituted its military starting in the 1950s, its air transport arm unsurprisingly received surplus WWII-era transports. In this case, the American C-46. While adequate for this time, the C-46 was quickly outclassed in speed and payload as jet engines and turboprops were introduced, and by 1966 Japan was looking for a modern replacement. Now, at this time, the Nihon Aircaft Manufacturing Corporation, a consortium of industry giants such as Mitsubishi, Showa, Fuji, and Kawasaki, had recently introduced a (relatively) successful modern airliner in the YS-11. The consortium was therefore tasked with creating and producing a new military transport. The consortium set Kawasaki as the lead contractor, and work began.
Now, during development, the Japanese Government had a strict policy that, to avoid inflaming other nations in the region and domestic tensions, any new equipment developed had to be designed such that it had practically no offensive capability. For the new transport, this was done by giving it an extremely low range. Since, at this time, Japan only administered, and only had to defend, the home islands, it was determined that it would have only about 1/4 that of the plane it was replacing when carrying a full load. That meant the only foreign territories it could reach were southern Korea and the southern Kurile Islands. Any other location was either a one-way trip or beyond its range entirely. It couldn't even cross the home islands in one hop. This became an issue becase, two years before the final product was introduced (1974), the United States returned Okinawa and the other southern islands to Japanese control. Well, this plane could barely reach Okinawa with a useful load, and as a result, the self-defense forces initially contracted an improved variant (C-1A) with greater fuel, but were not satisfied. Instead, they cut off C-1 production in order to get a plane that could comfortably reach Okinawa. In 1981, following the trend of every other nation allied to the US, they bought the C-130 Hercules. As a result, orders for the C-1 were cut by about 33%, with 31 produced (26 original, 5 C-1A), and half as many C-130Hs to cover that range gap.
Beyond its anemic range, the C-1 does have a fairly good cargo capacity for its size: 11,900 kg maximum, 60 fully equipped troops, or 45 paratroopers (roughly a full platoon). It's also, owing to being a jet aircraft, significantly faster than most light and medium transport aircraft of its time: 800 km/h compared to under 600 for the C-130. And, while nothing compared to the Hercules, its small size and design gave it above average "ground maneuverability," which is to say it needs much less runway space to take off and land than most transport aircraft. It is also capable of carrying light combat vehicles, which, while a given today, was not so common in the 1960s and 1970s. The plane continued through the decades mainly due to the fact that it was there, but the JSDF was never really happy with it due to that range issue.
Finally, in 2001, Japanese officials began looking at foreign aircraft and decided that, well, nothing elsewhere quite matched Japan's needs. They contracted Kawasaki to develop a new medium transport in the class of the European A400M (about twice the C-130s payload), with the intention of purchasing 40 units to replace both the C-1 and C-130. The C-1 was used as the basis for this new plane, and they look similar at a glance (well, aside from size: the C-1's max weight is the C-2's payload). This new, much more modern plane compares pretty favorably to contemporaries, and the plane its replacing. With the same ~12,000 kg payload of the C-1, it can fly 5 times as far. And while its range is lower than the A400M when loaded, it's higher empty and the plane is 14% faster. Its ground maneuverability is, according to requirements, even better than the C-1, despite the size increase (though still not quite up to turboprop planes like the A400M or C-130). But, development has been slow. It took 9 years for the plane to make its maiden flight (2010), and, to my knowledge, it has still not reached operational status. Considering economic factors, it would not be surprising if procurement is reduced and/or delayed, and the C-1 stays in service in some numbers well past 2020.
svmsoverflag said: What I want to know is how they fit the C-1 through the gate...
This has been brought up repeatedly. At most, all they have to do is remove the wings and maybe the vertical stabilizer, and reassemble on the other side. While neither cheap nor easy, this is completely doable.
fst said: are we sure the gate is big enough to slot the fuse through?
IIRC it's wide enough for about 10 people to pass side by side on horseback, and it's not as tall as it is wide.
Seems like it might be a pretty tight squeeze
The gate is shown covering the entire street, with its pillars covering the whole sidewalk. The minimum width of a road lane is 2.7m. With a thin 2-lane road, that's still 5.4m. However, city roads are usually wider, with lanes over 3m wide, and there should be at least 3 lanes, so we're looking at more like 8-11m wide. This is reinforced by the scene of them entering the gate: the Type 74 tanks, which drive side-by-side with room to spare, are 3.2m wide. The fuselage width of a C-1 is about 6m. Easy fit.
The gate is also shown rising at least two floors. A story is at least 3m, and possibly much more. These ones look closer to 4m, and it might be even higher since we're not sure we saw that shot from ground level. My best guess is around 7-9m high. The C-1, with vertical stabilizer, is just under 10m. With the vertical stabilizer removed, it's probably between 5m and 6m, and maybe 1 more for whatever it's loaded on. Still no problem.
