JASDF Aircraft Roll Call

JASDF AIRCRAFT IN-SERVICE DATES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Aircraft Type / In Service / No. (dels. ongoing) / Notes

T-34A Mentor	1954–1982	144
KAL-2	1954–1962	1			→ JGSDF
F-86F Sabre	1954–1982	445
T-6 variants	1955–1970	179
C-46 Commando	1955–1978	48
T-33A	1955–2000	278
Vampire T.55	1956–1960	1
T-28B Trojan	1956–1964	1
H-19C	1957–1973	21
F-86D Sabre	1958–1968	122

Fuji T-1	1960–2006	66		ff T-1A Jan. 19, 1958*
H-21B	1960–1967	10
RF-86F Sabre	1961–1979	18		Converted F-86Fs
F-104J Starfighter	1962–1986	210		ff (Lockheed) June 30, 1961 14 aircraft → UF-104J/JA standard
F-104DJ Starfighter	1962–1986	20
S-62J	1963–1983	9
YS-11 variants	1965–(2021**)	13
MU-2S	1967–2008	29		SAR version
KV-107	1967–2009	52
F-4EJ Phantom II	1971–2021	140		ff (US) Jan. 14. 1971
Kawasaki C-1	1971–	33		ff XC-1 Nov. 12, 1970
RF-4E Phantom II	1974–2020	14
Mitsubishi T-2	1975–2006	96		ff July 20, 1971
Mitsubishi MU-2J	1975–1995	4		Flight check version
Mitsubishi F-1	1977–2006	77		ff FST-2Kai June 16, 1977
Fuji T-3	1978–2007	50		ff Jan. 17, 1978
Beech B-65	1980–1999	5		ex-JMSDF
F-15J Eagle	1981–	165		ff (US) June 4, 1980
F-15DJ Eagle	1981–	48
E-2C Hawkeye	1983–	13
C-130H Hercules	1984–	16
Kawasaki T-4	1985–	212		ff XT-4 July 29, 1985
CH-47J/LR Chinook	1986–	31
UH-60J	1991–	(77)		Dels. ongoing
B747-400	1992–2019	2
U-125	1992–	3		Flight check version
UF-104J/JA Starfighter	1992–1997	14		Conversions
Beech T-400	1994–	13
U-125A	1995–	28		SAR version
Mitsubishi F-2A	1996–	64		ff XF-2A Oct. 7, 1995
Mitsubishi F-2B	1996–	34		ff XF-2B Apr. 17, 1996
E-767	1996–	4
Gulfstream IV (U-4)	1997–	5
Fuji T-7	2002–	49		ff July 2002
KC-767	2008–	4
Kawasaki C-2	2016–	(17)		ff XC-2 Jan. 26, 2010
F-35A Lightning II	2017–	(63)		ff (US) Aug. 24, 2016
B777-300ER	2018–	2		First arr Aug. 2018
E-2D Hawkeye	2019–	(18)		First arr Mar. 2019
U-680A	2020–	3		Third del’d Jan. 2021
KC-46A	2021–	(6)
F-35B Lightning II	(2024–)	(16)

* ff (T-1B) May 17, 1960
** YS-11EA (2) / YS-11EB (2) still in service late 2022

JASDF Aircraft Programmes

This section primarily provides general status overviews by type of those aircraft (excluding drones) that are currently being procured or for which funding is being sought:

Boeing KC-46A Pegasus
Kawasaki C-2
Lockheed Martin F-35A/B Lightning II
Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye
Mitsubishi-Sikorsky UH-60J

(Photo [Yokota AB, September 2018]: U.S. Air Force/Yasuo Osakabe, 374th AW Public Affairs)

The budget system employed by the Japan Ministry of Defense calls for equipment requests for the following fiscal year (FY) to be submitted to the government in August and approved in December. The fiscal year runs from April 1 of that year to March 31 of the following year.

For the purposes of longer term planning, the Cabinet approves a five-year Medium-Term Defense Program (MTDP). Passed on December 18, 2018, the current MTDP runs from FY2019 to FY2023 and, in the JASDF’s case, envisaged the procurement of 45 F-35As (and 20 F-15J upgrades), nine E-2Ds, four KC-46As and five C-2s.

Current Aircraft Procurement

Boeing KC-46A Pegasus

One of the four KC-767s delivered between 2008 and 2010 climbs out from RAF Fairford, England,
in July 2014. The KC-767 fleet is due to be augmented by the entry into service of the first of six
KC-46As in 2021. (Photo: Adrian Pingstone via Wikimedia Commons)

Following final assembly, the first KC-46A Pegasus destined for the JASDF was rolled out at the
manufacturer’s Everett factory on September 20, 2020.
(Photo: The Boeing Company via Twitter @BoeingDefense)

Under the previous MTDP, which ran until FY2018, the Japan Ministry of Defense declared its intention to acquire three new tanker/transport aircraft of a then unspecified type for the JASDF. The first and second aircraft were included in the FY2017 and FY2018 budgets, none were added in FY2019.

At a press conference on October 23, 2015, then Defense Minister Gen Nakatani announced that the U.S. government-proposed Boeing KC-46A had been selected; one appeared on the finalized FY2016 budget shopping list, but approval only came with that requested under FY2017 funding.

Setting a deadline of September 8, a request for proposals had been issued on June 17, 2015. Airbus having declined to make “inappropriate use of shareholders’ funds and company resources” by putting forward its A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport for what they clearly saw as a lost cause, the Boeing KC-46A was the only submission. 

At the time of the announcement of the type’s first overseas sales success, the U.S. Air Force KC-46A Pegasus programme was nearing the end of its development phase. Based on the Boeing 767-2C, the first of four prototypes had flown for the first time only a month before, on September 25, 2015. 

To be based at Miho AB in Tottori Prefecture, Japan’s KC-46A fleet will be capable of refuelling the JGSDF’s V-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Their unit price tags of 20.8 billion yen (around $173 million) due to be funded as part of the FY2016 budget, the aircraft are planned to be deployed in around 2020. The exact dates will be subject to slot availability on a production line that is currently set to fulfill a U.S. Air Force requirement for 179 aircraft over the space of a decade commencing in August 2017.

Bearing the civil registration N6018N on its tail, the first KC-46A destined for the JASDF took to
the air for the first time on February 8, 2021. The second aircraft was present at
Paine Field and reportedly close to following suit early in August 2021.
(Photo: The Boeing Company/Marian Lockhart)

The first JASDF KC-46A lands back at Paine Field, which adjoins Boeing’s Everett plant, at the
conclusion of its maiden flight. (Photo: Daniel Gorun via Twitter @dgorun)

A Boeing press release dated August 16, 2021, reported that the first KC-46A (now 14-3611) had
recently refueled a U.S. Air Force KC-46A and had itself been refueled in the skies over
Washington state. Footage of this milestone was also posted on YouTube (link).
(Photo: The Boeing Company/Kevin Flynn)

The JASDF’s first KC-46A is showered with greetings upon its arrival at Miho AB on October 29,
2021. For its ferry flight, the aircraft had a U.S. serial number rather than a U.S. civil
registration masking its Japanese serial, and its hinomaru national markings were
also covered. (Photo: 海の飛行機撮りvia Twitter @SkyWatching_)

Delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the second aircraft (24-3612) arrived at Miho AB on February 24, 2022, four months after the first aircraft.

As shown below, approval was gained for all four KC-46As requested under FY2020 funding. 

KC-46A Budget Requests/Approvals

2017	2018	2019	2020	Total
1/1	1/1	—	4/4	6/6

Kawasaki C-2

(Photo: JASDF)

On July 4, 2014, the Japan Ministry of Defense announced that the development period for the C-2, which had been planned to end in March 2015, would be extended by two years. (See Bulletin Board, March 27, 2017)

The ministry’s then Technical Research & Development Institute (TRDI) at Gifu had been using a ground test airframe to verify the C-2’s structural integrity since 2005. On January 7, 2014, that airframe sustained damage to its cargo door and rear fuselage during pressurization tests, prompting the temporary grounding of the two XC-2s until February 19.

As reported in the Kōkū Fan magazine published in July (the September 2014 issue), an investigation found the root cause to have been a stress concentration-induced rupture at the part of the fuselage frame close to where the cargo and ramp doors meet. In the meantime, the two XC-2s continued to be operated from Gifu AB, having surpassed a combined total of 300 test flights. The first prototype appeared in formation with the 44-year-old prototype C-1 (now designated C-1FTB) during the SDF review flypast at Hyakuri AB, Ibaraki Prefecture, on October 26, 2014. From November 2014, the first prototype’s fuselage was replaced by one built to production aircraft standard; the aircraft was returned to the test programme at Gifu on February 24, 2016. 

This was the second time the C-2 programme had suffered a major delay. KHI engineers were forced back to their drawing boards in 2007 after structural weaknesses had been found in the main wing of that same first prototype XC-2, which was rolled out on July 4, 2007, but did not complete its maiden flight until January 26, 2010. The aircraft was finally handed over to the TRDI for flight testing two months later, on March 30.

The second prototype had made its first flight on January 27, 2011, and immediately joined the flight test programme. During the course of 2013, the aircraft was engaged in the in-flight, low-level operational testing of the ramp door and used to conduct paratrooper drop tests from its side door. These were followed by snow-covered runway trials from Gifu in December 2014 and deployment to Miho for three days of ground handling trials in October 2015.

Modified for the electronic intelligence (ELINT) and surveillance role, which has been fulfilled by a modified 1977-vintage Kawasaki C-1 flying as the EC-1 since 1983, the second prototype commenced flight testing from Gifu on February 8, 2018 (link).

The first production C-2 took to the skies for the first time on May 17, 2016, and was officially handed over to the Ministry on June 30, the first of three scheduled for delivery by the end of March 2017. The JASDF still has an estimated requirement for 30 of the aircraft, which is in the same weight category as the Airbus A400M and Antonov An-70. As shown in the chart below, orders for 13 production aircraft have so far been placed; the single aircraft requested under FY2016 funding failed to secure final approval. Drawn up before the pressurization test setback, the previous MTDP up to FY2018 had included 10 aircraft.

Production Kawasaki C-2 Budget Requests/Approvals

2011	2012	2014	2016	2017	2018	2019	2021	2022	2023	Total
2/2	2/2	2/2	1/0	3/3	2/2	2/2	2/1	1/0*	2/2	19/16

It was January 2018 when the first of the production examples were declared fully operational with an active unit at Miho in Tottori Prefecture, where in September 2013 a new control tower was inaugurated and new purpose-built hangars were being built in anticipation of the C-2’s arrival. The completion of the first new hangar was marked by a ceremony on January 27, 2017.

The 10th aircraft built first flew in January 2019 and had been delivered by the end of March the same year, then making a total of eight in squadron service; the 11th made its first flight on February 7, 2020, the 12th on October 15, 2020, after a delay caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

* Although no additional C-2s were included in either the supplementary FY2021 or FY2022 budgets, the latter does include 4.6 billion yen for the procurement of devices to enable the RC-2 signals intelligence aircraft to take over the YS-11EB’s information-gathering role. 

Lockheed Martin F-35A/B Lightning II

The Japan Ministry of Defense announced the selection of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II—the conventional takeoff and landing variant [link]—to fulfill its F-X (F-4EJ replacement) requirement on December 11, 2011. An agreement to purchase up to 42 aircraft followed in June 2012.

The roll-out ceremony for the first JASDF F-35A took place on September 23, 2016.
(Photo: Lockheed Martin/Beth Steel)

As shown in the table below, the approval of the six aircraft requested under FY2016 brought the total number of F-35As on order to 22 and accounted for 16 of the 28 planned over the duration of the MTDP. An additional six aircraft were requested and approved under each of the three subsequent budgets.

Lockheed Martin F-35A Budget Requests/Approvals since FY2012

2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	Total
4/4	2/2	4/4	6/6	6/6	6/6	6/6	6/6	3/3	4/4	8/8	8/8	63/63

Lockheed Martin F-35B Budget Requests/Approvals

The FY2020 budget also included 79.3 billion yen ($725 million) for the first tranche of six (of a planned 42) F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing fighters destined to operate from the JMSDF’s Izumo helicopter carrier, the refit of which was to start in the following year.

						2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	Total
						—	6/6	2/2	4/4	8/8	20/20

The first JASDF F-35A (AX-1) was rolled out at prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s Dallas-Fort Worth plant on September 23, 2016. At that time, the first four aircraft were scheduled to be delivered, presumably to the AD&TW at Gifu AB, from March 2017 onwards (and by the end of 2017). The subsequent 38 examples are being produced in Nagoya by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).

JASDF maintenance personnel pose in front of their new charge at Luke AFB, Arizona, on
November 28, 2016, when the JASDF aircraft became the first Foreign Military Sales F-35
to arrive at the base. The low-visibility hinomaru markings applied for the roll-out 
had been removed by this time. (Photo: U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Louis Vega Jr.)

Lockheed Martin concluded the final assembly and check out (FACO) facility details with MHI and the other parties involved early in 2014. Following its selection by the U.S. Department of Defense, Nagoya will ultimately serve as the North Asia-Pacific regional Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade (MROU) facility, part of a global network providing advanced, long-term support for the F-35 fleets of a number of services. On the engine front, the Pratt & Whitney division of United Technologies Corporation signed an agreement with IHI Corporation covering the F135 turbofan in November 2013.

On October 2, 2015, a ceremony was held at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center to mark the completion of the centre fuselage for the first of those 38 indigenously produced aircraft (AX-5). Giving some idea of the production rate, the milestone involved the 207th example of the major structure and the 30th unit manufactured in the year.

The manufacturing process at the Nagoya Plant includes mating the centre fuselage to the Lockheed Martin-produced forward fuselage/cockpit and wings as well as to the aft fuselage and empennage produced by principal subcontractor BAE Systems plc; AX-5 commenced its journey through the process on December 5, 2015, and was rolled out on June 5, 2017. Due to be introduced into service in 2017, the May 2016 issue of Koku Fan had carried photos of the still ‘green’ aircraft as it briefly saw the Nagoya light of day.

The JASDF’s newest front-line face saw the official light of day for the first time on June 5, 2017,
as covered by a Bulletin Board report. (Photo: Kenichi Sunohara/Aireview)

Although not a development partner, Japan invested in the FACO facility at Nagoya in part to maintain its expertise in the high-tech aerospace industry. While work progresses on the first aircraft, vertical logistics systems are being incorporated to compensate for the reduced floor space available.

In the latter half of 2014, the F-35 programme had made headlines as a result of the current Japanese government’s decision to conditionally lift the country’s long-standing, self-imposed ban on arms exports from April 1, 2014. On the one hand, the move appeared advantageous for the likes of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and IHI, who could now plan to export their respective radar and engine components for installation in the F-35s operated by other nations’ air forces. On the other hand, the move prompted the Ministry of Defense to look into recouping part of its budgeted initial investment expenses, should an item of defence equipment be exported and contribute to the company in question’s profits.

Having requested increased government funding to enable the company to supply F-35 rear fuselages to BAE Systems, traditional JASDF jet fighter supplier MHI was unable to reach an agreement—on either the amount of profit that could be expected or the amount that would be reimbursed—and postponed its participation in the programme, pending contract renegotiation. As reported in the November 7, 2014, edition of the Tokyo Shimbun, this put on hold MHI’s export of assemblies, which are nonetheless components, but the company had already received orders to assemble and conduct the final checks on its quota of 38 aircraft for the JASDF at the dedicated facility, newly rebuilt with taxpayers’ money, inside its Komaki South plant.

While concerns were raised in the summer of 2014 about the impact of the U.S. dollar exchange rate on the F-35 programme as a whole, the aircraft kept an otherwise aptly low profile on the Japanese media radar screens. A full-scale F-35A mock-up was present at Hyakuri AB, Ibaraki Prefecture, for the SDF review in October of that year (and at the Japan Aerospace 2016 industry exhibition held in Tokyo). The engine fire that befell an aircraft on the ground at Eglin AFB, Florida, in June 2014 might be used in evidence by the local population as the type’s arrival at its first operational base of Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, looms near. In 2000, staunch local government opposition on safety grounds was a factor in the delayed arrival of the first JASDF F-2s at the base. The November 2017 issue of Kōkū Fan, which appeared in mid-September, reported that a Provisional F-35A Squadrom would be forming at the end of FY2017 and work up to strength with 20 aircraft to enable the 302nd Squadron to re-form on the type at Misawa by the end of FY2018. The 301st Squadron is currently scheduled to soldier on with the Phantom until FY2020, when it too will switch to the F-35A and take the place of the soon (by March 2020) to be Hyakuri-bound 3rd Squadron’s F-2s at Misawa. Meanwhile, the F-35 has already become a familiar sight in western Japan following the arrival of a U.S. Marine Corps unit at Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Aircraft basing remains high on the political agenda in Okinawa, where the late Governor Takeshi Onaga made the vexed subject of the U.S. military presence the focus of his campaign in winning election in November 2014. Ahead of the vote, the Okinawa Times for November 10 that year reported that a plan was being devised to also maintain U.S. Marine Corps F-35s at Kadena AFB on Okinawa. Wisely, neither the U.S. nor the Japanese government has revealed any details about operating the F-35 from Okinawa, but the newspaper was highlighting a move that does at least assume integrated U.S. and possibly JASDF operations there. According to plans announced by the Marine Corps at that time, the ramp at Kadena was to be upgraded to accommodate F-35 operations in FY2016.

In the meantime, the first flights of the first and second Japanese-built aircraft took place on June 13 and September 25, 2017, respectively, and the latter was deployed to the Misawa-based Provisional F-35A Squadron on January 26, 2018. (Please see the postings on the Bulletin Board page for June 5, 2017, and January 26, 2018.) 

Progress of Deliveries

The 10th JASDF F-35A, the last of the four FY2014 aircraft, flew for the first time on September 13, 2018, and was followed by the 11th aircraft (89-8711) on November 1, 2018. The 18th aircraft (09-8718) completed its first flight on December 10, 2019, and was flown from Nagoya to Misawa with the 17th (09-8717) on January 30, 2020.

After COVID-19 prevented U.S. test pilots travelling to Japan to conduct the final checks, a series of at least three first flights were completed in October 2020; 09-8722 took to the skies for the first time on the 13th of the month. The 23rd and 24th aircraft achieved their first flights on the same day, February 22, 2021.

The first of the aircraft due for delivery in FY2021, the 25th aircraft (19-8725) was taken up for its maiden flight on May 24. The last of the six-aircraft FY2017 order, 19-8728 first flew on September 24, 2021, and was ferried to Misawa along with 19-8727 (first flown on September 15) on October 27, 2021. 

The 30th aircraft (29-8730) first flew on February 7, 2022, the 31st on April 5. Towards the end of the year, 29-8734 (Sept. 29) beat ‘733 (Oct. 11) into the air, which was followed by the ban on U.S. test pilots entering Japan being lifted. 

April 2023 saw the first flights of 39-8735 (Apr. 17) and of 736 the following day. 

(Above and below) A major F-35 programme milestone was reached when the first Mitsubishi-
assembled aircraft was rolled out at the company’s Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO)
facility on June 5, 2017. (Photos: Kenichi Sunohara/Aireview)

Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye

Also included in the previous MTDP was the introduction of four new airborne warning and control (AW&C) aircraft to “enhance the warning and surveillance capabilities in the surrounding airspace, including the southwest region.”

The contest was between two types: the Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, which would offer some degree of commonality with the E-2C already operated by the JASDF; and the Boeing 737 Wedgetail, as operated by the Royal Australian Air Force. It was announced on November 21, 2014, that the E-2D had been selected as the third constituent equipment of the JASDF’s AW&C Group, alongside its four E-767s and the E-2Cs. Valued at $151.3m, the contract for the first E-2D was awarded in November 2015, with completion due originally by March 2018. Second and third examples were successfully sought under the FY2016 and 2018 budgets, and funding for a fourth aircraft was included in the finalized FY2019 budget.

In July 2016, three months after having received request for proposal-prompted bids, the Ministry of Defense announced that Kawasaki and IHI would be the companies contracted for the maintenance of the E-2D airframes and engines, respectively.

A month later, in August 2016, the first two aircraft were being manufactured at Northrop Grumman’s St. Augustine facility in Florida for delivery in 2018. Unlike their shipborne U.S. Navy counterparts, JASDF E-2Ds carry extra fuel in their wings, thereby increasing their endurance by around three hours to eight hours. The first aircraft flew for the first time from there on October 9, 2017, and underwent mission systems flight testing from the company’s facility in Melbourne, Florida, from December 2017. (See also Bulletin Board entry for Nov. 13, 2017.) 

In a related move announced in the FY2019 budget, the planned enhancement of the Airborne Warning and Control Group was reflected in its re-designation as the Airborne Warning and Control Wing. 

That first aircraft (91-3471), the first of the two due in FY2019, finally arrived at the port of Iwakuni on board the U.S.-registered cargo ship Ocean Freedom on March 15, 2019, before being flown to Misawa on March 27. Still wearing U.S. national markings and the word ‘NAVY’ on both sides of its fuselage, these were to be removed and hinomaru applied prior to the official handover ceremony and the commencement of operational evaluation flights from Hamamatsu.

One of the two enshrouded E-2Ds that arrived on March 7, 2020, is seen fresh off the boat (above)
and having its engines run up under likewise leaden skies, still at Iwakuni, in late June 2020.
(Photos: Seagull-jap via Twitter @miejapan4)

In need of editing, a June 2020 YouTube video shows the third- and fourth-built aircraft to be delivered at Iwakuni (link), where flight testing had been delayed as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19. It is presumed that the second aircraft has been kept behind in the United States for crew training purposes. 

In addition to the four E-2Ds that had been ordered in November 2015, July 2016, and June and October 2018, Japan requested an additional nine aircraft under a proposed foreign military sale valued at $3.1 billion, bringing the total to 13 E-2Ds, equalling the number of E-2Cs acquired. In May 2020, the Mainichi Shimbun news media website reported on a Japan Ministry of Defense interview, in which it was stated the deployment time for the E-2D would be delayed by at least four years from the original schedule. The main reason given was the difficulties in modifying the aircraft to extend their range to that required by the JASDF.

Although the plans were for them to bolster the southwest region from Naha, all the E-2Ds are currently operated from Misawa. Unlike in the photo above now in full JASDF markings, 01-3473 is seen here in November 2020 (link).

Two more (in total the fifth and sixth aircraft) arrived at Iwakuni, again by ship, on October 19, 2022. Five have been included in the FY2023 budget, bringing the total to 18 aircraft.

The first E-2D on approach with arrestor hook deployed for what was to prove a successful
emergency landing after having suffered an engine problem on October 11, 2022.
(Photo: おかげ犬 via Twitter @9Wva2QLQp5d6nEE) 

Mitsubishi-Sikorsky UH-60J

(Photo: JASDF)

Not to be confused with the current JGSDF utility helicopter requirement, the JASDF’s own UH-X programme for FY2011 revolved around a next-generation rescue helicopter. Ultimately, three UH-60Js were requested and approved under FY2011 funding.

The pattern of acquisition in recent years, which included a failed request in FY2013, is shown in the chart below; a total of 42 aircraft were procured from 1988 to FY2008. A contract for the equivalent of around U.S.$43 million was placed with Mitsubishi on February 29, 2016, to cover the single aircraft included under FY2015 budget financing; delivery was scheduled for January 2018.

The Japan Ministry of Defense announced on December 18, 2015, that additional UH-60Js would be procured under the FY2015 supplementary budget as part of additional funding earmarked to provide enhanced cover for disaster relief.; as it was, eight were procured under the FY2016 budget.

The first, modernized, refuelling-probe equipped UH-60J-II version was 58-4593, which was delivered in 2015. The most recent known example, the 63rd JASDF UH-60J built and the 21st to the new standard (18-4613, originally built as 08-4613), was delivered in around January 2021. 

Mitsubishi-Sikorsky UH-60J Budget Requests/Approvals since FY2011

2011	2013	2014	2015	2016	2020	2021	2023	Total
3/3	2/0	3/3	2/1	8/8	8/3	5/5	12/12	43/35

At the same time, the JASDF is hoping to be able to increase the number of UH-60Js retrofiited with in-flight refueling probes.

Completed/Lapsed Aircraft Procurement

Boeing 777-300ER

(Photo: JASDF)

Operated from Chitose AB outside Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, the two Boeing 747-400s used to transport the prime minister and members of the imperial family were withdrawn from service in March 2019.

It was announced early in August 2014 that they would be replaced by two B777-300ERs. Taken at San Bernardino, California, a photo of the first aircraft, which was originally due for delivery in autumn 2018, appeared in a Japanese daily newspaper in mid-October 2016. The second aircraft was then set to arrive at the end of 2018, in time to commence full, two-aircraft operations when the 747s are withdrawn. Following a competitive bidding process, the ground support contract was switched from Japan Airlines to All Nippon Airways.

(Illustration: Cabinet Secretariat)

On April 28, 2015, the Cabinet Secretariat issued a press release that included information on the new colour scheme selected for the two aircraft (above).

Selected from several put forward by Boeing, the basic colour scheme retains the Japanese flag-derived, red-and-white upper surfaces of the B747s and repeats the application of grey to the wings and horizontal tail surfaces. In place of the current staid fuselage cheat-line, the major change is the flowing fuselage stripe. According to the Japan Ministry of Defense, this radical design departure represents ‘the realization of dynamic (economic) growth without fear of change and expresses in design form Japan’s sense of active engagement (in global affairs) in the years to come’.

Although the possibility of detail changes remained, another illustration and a three-view drawing were made available for viewing in pdf format at the Cabinet Secretariat’s Japanese-language website here [link]. 

As things turned out, the first aircraft arrived at Chitose from Switzerland on August 17, 2018 (see Bulletin Board report); the second aircraft followed suit on December 11.

Textron (Cessna) Citation 680A

(Photo: JASDF)

In July 2016, the Air Staff Office issued a request for information from companies interested in supplying and maintaining three of a new type of flight check aircraft and related equipment as a replacement for the YS-11FC and the U-125 tragically lost in an accident in the previous April.

Planned for delivery by the end of March 2021 via Kanematsu Corporation, which acquired the Japanese sales agency rights from Cessna parent Textron Aviation in 2015, the Citation 680A Latitude beat off rival bids submitted in October by Sojitz Corporation (Bombardier Challenger 650) and Mitsui Bussan Aerospace (Dassault Falcon 2000S). An initial two of what were to be designated U-680As received funding under the FY2017 budget; the third did not appear in any subsequent budget. Aside from the Citation’s assessed advantages in terms of performance and price, a major factor acting in Kanematsu’s favour was the company’s 20-year track record of supplying special mission aircraft to the JASDF and its delivery of three Citation CJ4 flight inspection aircraft to the Civil Aviation Bureau, also in 2015.

The December 2018 issue of Kōkū Fan magazine contained a manufacturer-supplied photo of the first aircraft, registered N137A and carrying the number ‘031’ on its nose. (See Bulletin Board report for March 21, 2020.)

One of the pair of U-680As that arrived at Iruma on March 21, 2020, is pushed back into
the Flight Check Group’s hangar. (Photo: JASDF/Iruma AB via Twitter)

Despite not having featured in any budget procurement information, the third aircraft arrived at Iruma on January 20, 2021. Wearing a Norwegian civil registration, having like its two predecessors been fitted out by Norwegian Special Mission and Sundt Air in Oslo, the aircraft was deployed the following day and made its first flight with its JASDF serial on January 27, 2021.

For the record, the three aircraft are: 02-3031 (ex-N137A, LN-NSM); 02-3032 (ex-N145A, LN-SUA); and 02-3033 (ex-N869QT, LN-TAI). 

Mitsubishi F-2B (Tsunami-Damaged Aircraft Repair Programme)

Repair funds were made available for 13 of the 18 F-2Bs damaged at Matsushima by the tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011. As the type is no longer in production, replacement parts such as flaps were manufactured at Lockheed Martin’s Dallas-Fort Worth facility. Initially, there were plans to repair six aircraft, all of which were delivered back to the JASDF by March 2016. Adding a further seven for a total of 13 aircraft, to be returned to service by the end of March 2018, reduced the cost per aircraft to around 7.3 billion yen (currently around $60 million).

Having been transported by road to Mitsubishi’s Komaki plant in Nagoya, repair work on the selected aircraft did not commence until July 2012. The first repaired F-2B was test flown from Komaki on February 16, 2015, and officially handed over at a ceremony held at the same location on April 21.

As tradition dictates on such occasions in Japan, a Shinto priest performs rites and offers prayers at
the April 21, 2015, ceremony held inside Komaki’s No. 4 Hangar. (Photo: JASDF)

The handover ceremony was attended by around 120 people, including military personnel and representatives from Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. as well as Lockheed Martin Corporation. The same day, the aircraft was taken by an 8th Sqn pilot on an hour-long ferry flight to its temporary home at Misawa, where some 600 4th Air Wing personnel were waiting. Repairs to the hangars and apron at Matsushima were completed by the end of March 2016.

Following the first flight of the 12th aircraft following repairs in mid-January 2018, the programme was on course for on-time completion.

At Misawa, the 3rd Air Wing commanding officer, Major-General Hirohide Inoue, attaches a
21st Sqn marking sticker to the tail fin of the first tsunami-damaged F-2B to be returned
to service after repair. (Photo [Apr. 21, 2015]: JASDF, Misawa AB)

A short (no sound) video of the events on April 21, 2015, can be viewed via the JASDF Official Channel on YouTube here [link].

Kawasaki-Boeing CH-47J/LR Chinook

Although a trickle of JGSDF CH-47JA deliveries was maintained up to 2017, JASDF CH-47J orders have remained in long-term abeyance. Prior to that, the most recent of the 31 examples produced for service with Air Rescue Wing units was ordered under FY2010 budget funding and entered service in 2013. Of those 31 helicopters, the last half (since 2002) have all been to long-range (LR) specification standard.

(All photographs on this website are copyright J-HangarSpace
unless otherwise stated.)