Why Does Japan Struggle In Developing Civil Airplanes?

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Why is Japan facing so many problems with developing its own civil airplanes?

Beijing Bureau Chief Bradley Perrett responds:

The short and not very satisfactory answer is inexperience. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) did not have a recent background in complete development of even a general aviation airplane when it set up Mitsubishi Aircraft in 2008 to develop the MRJ program, now called the SpaceJet.

A review of the reasons behind each of seven program delays does not reveal a theme, except that three were specifically related to meeting certification requirements, as other setbacks probably were, too. But even this is not a meaningful explanation, since certification looms over the whole development effort.

Bear in mind that most programs that were launched this century to create new commercial aircraft types, as distinct from versions, have run badly behind schedule. And when the extension of a development effort is announced, the offered reason is what has become the pacing item: The worst thing that is going wrong. Behind it, engineers could be struggling with any number of lesser problems that could have stretched the schedule.

Only one SpaceJet delay, the first, in 2009, was related to design performance (which developers wanted to improve). Of the three stemming from difficulty in meeting certification requirements, one was partly blamed on the unexpected imposition of a new scheme of official oversight after program launch.

One other delay, involving an extension of flight testing on the recommendation of U.S. experts, implied that managers at the program headquarters in Nagoya had been underestimating their task.

The full reasons for a sixth delay, early this year, have not been disclosed, but when it was announced, the company had clearly struggled with executing a redesign of the SpaceJet (the cause of the previous certification-related delay).

And the latest, indefinite, program extension is a result of the market drying up and MHI needing to stop feeding cash into the SpaceJet program.