KAI (suffix)

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KAI can also stand for Communist Workers International.

KAI or Kai (for Kaizo) is a Japanese technical designation suffix for referring to factory or operative front base modifications to military aircraft.

This term is equivalent to the German suffixes U (Umrüst-Bausätze = Factory Modifications) and R (Rüstsatze = Operative combat land Modifications) used by the Luftwaffe. These modifications, depending on their specialized level, are numbered from 1 to 25 or any other cyphers, alphabet letters or both combined. These alterations are made in factories or air bases in combat areas.

[edit] German examples

German examples of these are the Schräge Musik twin 20mm Cannons mounted in dorsal positions, which are land operative of factory modification in one seat or twin engine fighters:

  • infrared devices (Spanner-Anlage)
  • Antitank cannons
  • heavy machine guns
  • rockets
  • rocket launchers
  • certain turbo-compressors
  • overpower system
  • Night Combat radars type FuG (Funkgerät = Night Radar) 202/228 SN-3 "liechtenstein"
  • FuG 240/1 "Berlin"
  • FuG 218 "Neptun" or FuG 350 "Naxos"
  • certain armours Magnetic Antitank cannon SG 113A of 77mm
  • Trop (tropicalized filters)
  • additional fuel tanks

and others.

[edit] Japanese examples

Other examples can be observed in Japanese hand such as in the following modifications:

  • Japanese Navy:
    • fuselage cells
    • turbo-compressor
    • new engines
    • dorsal mounting type 99 20mm Cannon
    • water-methanol refresh radiator system
    • pressurized cabin devices
    • night-combat equipment

and so forth.

  • Japanese Army:
    • high altitude equipment
    • turbo-compressor
    • dorsal cannons
    • night-combat equipment
    • radars
    • new engines
    • changes in structure cells
    • new armaments
    • guided air missile transports
    • technical kamikaze alterations
    • high altitude modifications
    • evaluative airplanes
    • tropicalized filters

and so on. These modifications are made in local factories in metropolitan or held lands areas, operative land airbases in combat fronts or in Navy Carriers in the sea.

In the Japanese case are present in this form, in general theirs used few alphabet letters on the right side of the KAI suffix (KAIa, for example) or none at all. See the following cases:

  • Kawasaki Ki-61 I KAId means Kawasaki fighter Kitai (type) 61 mark I with Kaizo (modification) type d (20 or 30mm heavy weapons, new cell structure and a turbo-compressor in the engine)
  • Mitsubishi Ki-46 III KAI or Mitsubishi reconnaissance plane Kitai (type) 46 Mark 3 with Kaizo (alteration) additional two 20mm and 37mm cannons
  • Yokosuka D4Y2-S KAI or Yokosuka dive bomber carrier plane type 4 of Navy Yokosuka factory model 2 with Kaizo (modification) for Night fighting (type S) in one Type99 20mm dorsal cannon and two Air-to-Air Rockets
  • Kawasaki Ki-45 KAIc or Kawasaki twin fighter Kitai (Type) 45 of army, with Kaizo (modification) type C for night combat in two fixed dorsal Ho-5 20mm cannons, one Ventral Ho-203 37mm cannon and one machine gun type 89 of 12.7mm from the back defensive position with centimetre night radar in the nose.
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