Despite the multiple benefits of a cockpit upgrade, it remains uncertain whether the recent contract for Airbus to retrofit UPS’s A300-600 freighters is signaling a trend.
The battery system proves the biggest challenge in developing an electric propulsion demonstrator, but other aspects of the X-57 Maxwell are making good progress.
Since MHI is only assembling F-35s, apparently using no domestically made structural parts, the program is not sustaining much of Japan’s skills in fighter manufacturing.