J2M2

J2M2

Ki-108 Kai

J5N1

J2M2

Ki-108 Kai

J5N1

Japan

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.3	5.0	3.7

Class:

Fighter

Research:26 000

Purchase:76 000

This page is about the Japanese fighter J2M2. For other uses, see J2M (Family).

Description

The J2M2 Raiden is a rank III Japanese fighter with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB), 5.0 (RB), and 3.7 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.49 "Weapons of Victory".

General info

Flight Performance

The J2M2 Raiden is an interceptor that excels in the Boom & Zoom play style. Once off the ground, the aircraft becomes an absolute monster, with a ludicrous climb rate, exceeding 20 meters per second, or close to 4,000 feet per minute of climb. This climb rate can be used to gain altitude and height over the enemy, and when they engage your slower, but much more manoeuvrable comrades flying Zeros, you swoop in and attack, which can be finished with quick bursts of the wing-mounted 20 mm cannons. Although half of your belt is next to useless when stock, a solid burst with upgraded belts has a good chance to critically damage, if not outright down, an enemy aircraft. The ammo load of 200 rounds is not large but provides enough to keep you fighting if one does not spray too much.

If one is unable to down an enemy quickly enough, the good energy retention in the vertical allows the craft to zoom back up to altitude for another attack. The aircraft does have some deficiencies, however. Its turning circle is closer to that of a P-51 or Fw-190, and in a sustained turn fight, it will lose energy and become a sitting duck. Compression becomes an issue at high speeds, and although faster than the majority of Japanese fighter aircraft, it still struggles to catch faster opponents, such as P-51s or P-47s. This can be countered by climbing at a high angle when in pursuit and then using that accumulated energy to close the gap and open fire.

The aircraft shares the same characteristics as the future J2M3 and M5 and can be a demo of what is there to come in the Japanese tree.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 5,500 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	569	551	11500	19.7	20.4	16	16	300
Upgraded	626	596		18.8	19.0	28.3	21.2

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flaps (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
0	350	520	~11	~9

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 430	< 460	< 400	> 324

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
2,000 m	1,875 hp	2,100 hp
Setting 2
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
5,300 m	1,675 hp	1,876 hp

Survivability and armour

Unlike other Japanese fighters, the J2M2 has some decent armour. There is a 70 mm bulletproof glass plate in front of the pilot. There is also a tiny triangular section of steel that is 8 mm behind the pilots head. Another thing the J2M2 has that other Japanese planes don't have near rank 3, is self-sealing fuel tanks. There is however no armour around the engine so the engine is very prone to bullets striking and damaging it.

Picture displaying the 70 mm bulletproof glass plate in front of the pilot.

Picture showing the 8 mm steel plate behind the pilots head.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The J2M2 is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm Type 99 Model 2 navy cannons, wing-mounted (100 rpg = 200 total)
• 2 x 7.7 mm Type 97 navy machine guns, nose-mounted (550 rpg = 1,100 total)

The two 7.7 mm machine guns are mounted in the cowling of the aircraft serve as good backups if the cannons run dry, or if there is a need to poke a fleeing enemy into a manoeuvre, lest they are felled by a thousand strings of rifle fire.

Suspended armament

The J2M2 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 2 x 60 kg Navy Type 97 Number 6 bombs (120 kg total)

The two 60 kg bombs are enough to destroy light pillboxes in a pinch, or if your bombing skills are exceptional, you can use these bombs for precise targeting against tanks in ground RB, although the J2M2's lacklustre turn rate will be exacerbated by the low manoeuvre required in the game mode.

Usage in battles

In the start of a match, you'll want to use your best advantage, climbing. The J2M2 has an incredible rate of climb for it's BR of 4.3. This will almost always guarantee you an altitude advantage, and from there, you should pick out your targets one-by-one. The J2M2 does not have the best offensive guns so make sure to never head-on. If you are diving on an opponent and they are trying to head-on, break off and do a spiral climb. Your opponent (if he's greedy enough) will stay on you and lose all of his energy. Once you see him about to go into a stall, quickly dive down to him and shoot him down. Another advantage of the J2M2 is the top speed. The J2M2 can go very fast for its BR and you should use it to your advantage. One way you can use this is by doing Boom n' Zooms, but make sure to watch your speed. You don't want to go too fast to where you'll start to "lock-up" and have almost no authority of the controls.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Controllable 2 gears	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair	Radiator		Offensive 7 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 7 mm MGs
III	Wings repair	Engine		Offensive 20 mm
IV		Engine injection	Cover	New 20 mm cannons

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent climb rate (21.2 m/s spaded)
• Excellent top speed (592 kph / 370 mph)
• Easily outperforms other allied aircraft it usually faces
• Out turn most allied planes except for the Spitfire
• Small size
• Excellent dive characteristic, able to BnZ
• Does not bleed energy like the Zero
• More ammo for the 20 mm than the early Zero models
• Comes with the ability to carry bombs when stock
• 20 mm does a lot of HE damage
• Has armour and self-sealing fuel tanks
• Very capable plane at almost any situations
• Incredibly favourable matchmaking in Arcade Battles for such a capable plane

Cons:

• Requires proper knowledge of the game to use its advantage
• Slower than US planes

History

Development

During the China Incident (Sino-Japanese war) the Navy had sustained some damage from Chinese bomber groups as they didn't have any dedicated interceptors at the time, for this reason the Navy put out multiple specifications for planes to deal with threats which the Chinese made clear to the Navy. For bombers specifically they specified for a strictly local-defense interceptor known as the 14-Shi Interceptor.

The designer behind the A6M, Jiro Horikoshi and his team started development on this specification. But due the harsh unrealistic specifications for mainly engine output required for the team to use a strong engine which wasn't available yet and with the oversized engine required for the task resulted in a sleek but stubby plane.

After the initial J2M1 prototypes outfitted with the 1,044 kW Mitsubishi MK4C Kasei 13 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine and didn't come near the specification requirements, engine vibrations coming from the cooling system and a troublesome undercarriage design held it back from being used as a production model.

The J2M2 Model 11 was outfitted with 1,379 kW Mitsubishi MK4R-A Kasei 23a 14-cylinder radial engine which somewhat overcame the teething problems but still didn't reach the requirements, overburdened with engine problems and electrical malfunctions in the landing gear remained.

Mitsubishi wanted to make the best of it and get out the J2Ms into combat service before it was officially adopted in the Navy. Engine problems and performance were only further resolved in further modifications.

Combat History

The first few produced J2M2s were delivered to the development units in December 1942 but the troublesome amount of engine problems still held it back from mass production. Troubleshooting almost took a year and the first batch of the serial built J2M2 Model 11 could be delivered to 381st Kōkūtai in December of 1943.

Furthermore, the J2M2 saw limited action in the Philippines, although it was largely ineffective due to the limited initial production batch and design flaws.

Media

Images

J2M2 in hangar w/ decals.

Videos

The Shooting Range #178 - Pages of History section at 04:36 discusses the J2M "Raiden".

IN THE NAME OF THUNDER! - Raiden section at 01:53 discusses the J2M's.

Best aircraft for Boom & Zoom discusses the J2M2 at 1:48 - War Thunder Official Channel

See also

Related development

• Mitsubishi J2M3 (following model)

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
• other literature.

Mitsubishi Company (三菱商会)
Fighters	A5M4 · Hagiri's A5M4
	A6M2 mod. 11 · A6M2 · A6M3 · A6M3 mod. 22 · A6M3 mod. 22Ko · A6M5 · A6M5 Ko · A6M5 otsu · A6M5 Hei · A6M6c
	A7M1 (NK9H) · A7M2
	J2M2 · J2M3 · J2M4 Kai · J2M5 · J2M5 (30 mm)
Hydroplanes	F1M2
Interceptors	Ki-83 · Ki-109
Bombers	G4M1
	Ki-21-Ia · Ki-21-I hei · Ki-67-I Ko · Ki-67-I otsu
Jet Fighters	Ki-200
Captured	▃A6M2 · ␗A6M2
See also	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Post-War)