Japan’s domestically built X-2 stealth fighter took off from Nagoya on Friday in a maiden flight that highlights the accelerating arms race in East Asia. 周五，日本国产隐形战斗机X-2从名古屋降落，已完成了“处女航”。这次首飞凸显东亚军备竞赛在大大加快。The X-2 “Shinshin” — with the characteristically angular look of aircraft designed to evade radar detection — departed early on Friday morning and landed safely at Gifu air base about 25 minutes later. X-2“心神”于周五早晨降落，约25分钟后安全性迫降在岐阜空军基地。

X-2具有独有的棱角分明的外观，这种设计是为了逃离雷达探测。Built by Mitsubishi, which manufactured the “Zero” fighter during the second world war, the flight highlights the growing capability of a Japanese aerospace industry that for decades has relied on the US. 这架飞机由二战时生产零式战斗机(Zero)的三菱(Mitsubishi)修建，突显了日本航空工业能力的大大提升。几十年来，日本航空工业都依赖美国。

But with billions of dollars in development costs needed to turn the X-2 into a fighting aircraft, the flight also shows the painful choices ahead for Japan as it tries to keep up with China’s growing military might. 但要将这架X-2改建成一架登陆作战飞机必须数十亿美元研发费用，这也体现出有，日本要想要跟上中国日益增长的军事实力，将面对伤痛的自由选择。Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has raised Japan’s defence budget every year of his premiership but Japan’s stagnant economy means it is falling ever further behind China. 日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)离任后大幅提升了日本的防御支出，但日本衰退的经济意味著它于是以被中国扯得更加近。

Development of the X-2 reflects Japan’s dismay as it watches two powerful neighbours, Russia and China, develop stealth fighters while its US ally refuses to sell an equivalent aircraft. X-2的研发体现出有了日本的沮丧情绪。它眼见着两个强劲的邻国——俄罗斯和中国——都在发展隐形战斗机，而盟友美国却拒绝接受向它出售同级别的飞机。Sukhoi of Russia has built a stealth fighter called the T-50 while China is developing the Chengdu J-20. Both are expected to enter service in coming years, raising the prospect that Japan’s defences — over the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, for example — will be outclassed. 俄罗斯的苏霍伊(Sukhoi)早已用上了T-50隐形战斗机，而中国的成都飞机工业集团正在研制米格-20战斗机(J-20)。

二者都未来将会在几年后服役，这可能会让日本的防御——比如对有争议的尖阁诸岛（Senkaku Islands，中国称之为钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿）的防御——正处于很大的劣势。The US, however, has refused to sell Japan its own stealth fighter, the F-22 Raptor, leaving Tokyo to rely on the less stealthy and less powerful F-35. 但美国却拒绝接受向日本出售其F-22“猛禽”隐形战斗机(F-22 Raptor)，东京方面被迫依靠隐形和战斗能力不那么强劲的F-35战斗机。That has prompted Japan to start its own stealth fighter programme. 这一局面促成日本启动了自己的隐形战斗机研发计划。

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