Editing Imperial Japanese Equipment (section)

===Fighters===
* '''Mitsubishi A5M "Claude"''': The less iconic, but still just as important naval aviation fighter designed by the same man who would develop the Zero: Jiro Horikoshi. Claudes were exclusively Navy aircraft that far excelled navy expectations, and helped end biplanes in IJN aviation service on Aircraft carriers. Early armament was two humble mgs, but variants after the A5M1a incorporated two 20mm Oerlikon cannons. Claudes were largely replaced by the Zero by the time the war broke out, but some were used in Kamikaze attacks in the latter part of the war. The design was so good that the IJA took a break from the dick slapping contest they had with the Navy to consider it, though they felt the maneuverability was lacking. Japanese aviators disliked closed cockpit designs on the A5M because they hindered visibility, so for the most part the aircraft were open topped, with all the positives and negatives that implied.  
* '''Mitsubishi A6M "Zero"''': The Zero was the iconic aircraft of the war for Japan and served in every theatre, though it was first and foremost a Navy Fighter. It was designed so that a well trained pilot could fully utilize the aircraft and outmatch most anything in the world at the time. It was even good enough that the basic airframe (made from high-end alumuminum alloys and with revolutionary structures such as smoothed rivets) could be recycled for carrier use with minor modifications. This did have the downside of sometimes removing radios for increased range or due to them just not working, and by late war America and Britain started topping them with better armored and easier to fly designs. However, bear in mind that the Zero could achieve ranges of 1,870 km and was still able to accept upgrades until the end of the war, a feat not shared by every fighter.
* '''Kawasaki Ki-61 "Tony"''': When it was clear the Allies would not meekly stand down but come back to reclaim the ground Japan seized, the IJA requested a air superiorit fighter to protect their gains. Entered the "Tony", a radically different design from the other Japanese airplanes (so different, in fact, it was first believed to be an Italian airplane, hence, "Tony"). A decent albeit finicky design, its main achievement was to get the Americans to <s>shit their bricks</s> reconsider their approach, retire their [[P40 Warhawk|P-40's]] and replace them with [[P38 Lightning|P-38's]]. Ultimately, a larger industrial base and better logistics won out, and the "Tony" was grinded away or bombed into oblivion.   
* '''Nakajima Ki-84 "Frank"''': An Army Fighter that was put into service in 1944, designed specially to defend the homeland. Performance-wise, it was competitive with to superior to any other piston plane of the late war with its great blend of high speed, good maniability and hard-hitting armament. A solid design that nevertheless suffered from a tricky to nurse engine and finicky landing gear; problems that were compounded by lack of training for the pilots and materials shortages from the American bombing campaign.
** '''Mitsubishi J2M "Jack"''': In a sense the Frank's 'little brother': a competitor design, decent but overall not as good. It was put into production alongside the "Frank" anyway since it used a different engine and few of the same resources; and the Japanese concluded that more airframes to try and intercept those pesky B-25's and B-29's simply couldn't hurt. No turbocharger on the engine meant it struggled to reach the bomber's operational altitude in time, but its quartet of hard-hitting 20mm cannons made it a dangerous opponent when it managed to properly intercept.
* '''Kyushu J7W Shinden''': A high speed (750kph) short range prototype interceptor made in the last days of the war. Notably it had a pusher prop in the back and four 30mm cannons in the nose. Designed for the express purpose of ruining the day of those pesky American B-29's bombing the everloving shit out of Japan, but never saw more than a couple of test flights.
* '''Nakajima Kikka''': A prototype Jet Fighter built by the IJN, similar in general shape to the ME 262 (albeit slimmer and lankier) with ten of them being built. It first flew on August 7th 1945, just after the American Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and eight days before Emperor Hirohito surrendered. Here more as credit to Japanese Engineers than anything.