I Had Thought,

that only, America, Russia and China,

were in the race to develop better stealth fighters,

but it appears with the successful maiden flight yesterday of it's X-2 fighter Japan has entered the arms race, made by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) X-2 (formerly the Advanced Technology Demonstrator - Experimental [ATD-X]) 'Shinshin' (Spirit) fifth-generation fighter technology demonstrator took to the skies over  Nagoya Airport before conducting a series of flight characteristics trials, it landed at the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's (JASDF's) Gifu Air Base, some 50 km to the north,

'control of the aircraft went exactly as in our simulated training sessions', the test pilot is reported as saying, so why is Japan entering the arms race? the X-2 may have been born out of desperation, after America flatly refused to sell its most advanced stealth fighter, the F-22, to Japan, so if you can not buy one make your own!