JMSDF Aircraft Roll Call

JMSDF AIRCRAFT IN-SERVICE DATES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

The main aircraft types operated by the JMSDF in its 70-year history.
(Photos: Fleet Air Force JMSDF via Twitter @jmsdf_af)

JMSDF Aircraft Programmes

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

Kawasaki P-1
ShinMaywa US-2
Mitsubishi-Sikorsky SH-60K
Mitsubishi-Sikorsky XSH-60L

(Photo [July 2019]: JMSDF Iwakuni)

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 JMSDF’s case, envisaged the procurement of 12 P-1s, 13 patrol helicopters (SH-60Ks or SH-60Ks with upgraded capabilities) and one MCH-101.

Current Aircraft Procurement 

Kawasaki P-1

                                                                                                  (Photo: JMSDF)

In early 2020, the 24th P-1 (the 22nd production aircraft, 5524) became the latest example to enter squadron service, and on February 19, 2020, the 26th aircraft made its first flight from Gifu. The 31st aircraft took to the skies for the first time on March 3, 2021, the 32nd followed suit early in June, and the 35th on January 13, 2022. 

The Japan Ministry of Defense released figures that showed the pace at which the P-1 had superseded the P-3C over the years FY2015 to FY2019:

As mentioned at the time of this website’s Location Report from NAF Atsugi in May 2014, the based 4th Fleet Air Wing’s 3rd Fleet Air Squadron was due to be declared operational on the P-1 in the autumn of 2015 and had three aircraft on strength by the end of April 2015. As at February 1, 2018, both of the squadron’s flights were operational on the P-1. The second base to receive the type was Kanoya, where the first aircraft arrived for the 1st FAS in July 2019.

The total requirement stands at 70 aircraft, and deliveries kept close pace with the 23-aircraft fleet foreseen within the time frame of the previous MTDP. As part of its FY2015 request, the JMSDF successfully sought the bulk procurement of no less than 20 P-1 aircraft for a cool 378.1 billion yen. Dispensing with the traditional annual defence contracts, this cost-saving procurement method had already been accepted in the case of other admittedly less expensive SDF programmes, such as for 28 of the JGSDF’s TH-480B training helicopters. In the case of the P-1, legislation had to be enacted to extend the then current five-year limit on long-term contracts. Offering economies of scale though centralized procurement, the Japan Ministry of Defense was expecting to save around 40.3 billion, or around two billion yen per aircraft, following the Cabinet’s agreement to the proposal. That saving in funding could, for example, cover the ongoing P-3C life extension programme, for which the service has regularly sought to repeat its successful FY2014 request for work to be carried out on three aircraft.

In June 2012, the first prototype P-1 was utilized during launch trials of the Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile. (Photo: Japan Ministry of Defense/TRDI)

On February 6, 2015, two P-1s arrived at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, for the test launching and evaluation of Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles that took place three days later. Having departed on February 11, the aircraft routed back via an overnight stop at Andersen AFB, Guam, on this the type’s first overseas visit.

On the subject of long-distance flights, the P-1 became the first aircraft with Japanese engines to circumnavigate the globe in 76 years, since the Asahi Shimbun flight involving the Mitsubishi G3M2 Nippon in 1939. 

Two 51st Fleet Air Squadron aircraft and 40 unit personnel led by Commander Kazutaka Sugimoto, who had been in charge of the Hawaii mission, departed Atsugi on July 10, 2015, supported by a JASDF KC-767. The JMSDF’s debut was one of the highlights of the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford in England July 17–19. Having shown the flag in the UK—for the third time in the case of the JASDF KC-767, having participated in 2012 and 2014—with an optimistic eye toward potential overseas sales, the detachment then moved on to bolster the JMSDF presence in Djibouti for operational trials in hot weather and desert conditions, returning to Atsugi on July 25.

Returning to the P-1’s missile-carrying capabilities, the May 8, 2015, edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology reported that the Japan Ministry of Defense had requested KHI to look into a stretched version of the type serving as a launch platform for a battery of extended-range air-to-air missiles. The company was due to have submitted the findings of its two-month, low-key study in March 2015. Such an aircraft could also stem from the development of an airborne-early warning and control (AEW&C) variant, which was under consideration.

(Photo: Japan Ministry of Defense/TRDI)

Kawasaki P-1 Budget Requests/Approvals by Fiscal Year

ShinMaywa US-2

The first prototype of what was then the US-1AKai (9901) rescue amphibian took off for the first time on December 18, 2003; its first runway takeoff took place on February 19 the following year.

Out of financial necessity, US-2 funding since then can best be described as sporadic. Following the two prototypes, a fourth production aircraft was authorized under FY2013 funding and flown for the first time on March 2, 2017.

ShinMaywa US-2 Delivery Dates

(Photo: JMSDF)

On the operational front, the US-2 has ably extended the capabilities of its US-1A predecessor, none of which remain in service. That both types have more than proved their value was demonstrated on July 8, 2014, when the 71st Air Squadron achieved the milestone of completing its 1,000th mission since the unit’s formation in 1976.

The US-2’s unblemished track record was marred on the afternoon of April 28, 2015, when the fifth aircraft built (the third production aircraft) was involved in an accident around 22 nautical miles (40km) northeast of Cape Ashizuri, off Kochi Prefecture. Fortunately, all 19 crew members on board were able to board life rafts and were rescued; of those, only five had suffered minor injuries. 

During a training exercise involving sea landings, the aircraft had alighted on the water but reportedly been engulfed by a wave powerful enough to break off the starboard wing float and the No. 4 engine. The instability caused the aircraft to plunge nose first into the sea and end up tail high in the water, finally sinking around midday on May 1. In the aftermath of the crash, vessels were deployed to monitor the area for fuel leaks. 

All those on board the life rafts were rescued by a passing tanker, from which they were transferred to the Tosatsubaki, a small Japan Coast Guard patrol craft, and then to the JMSDF destroyer Kirisame. They arrived back at their Iwakuni home base aboard an MCH-101 helicopter at around 8:30 p.m., roughly five and a half hours after the accident. 

The event prompted the immediate grounding of all US-2s, rescue cover being provided by the last two US-1As in service. The aircraft was subsequently salvaged by a civilian contractor, while the cause of the incident remained the subject of an official board of inquiry.

Shot through the heat haze on June 19, 2015, a YouTube video (link) recorded the slow procession of articulated trucks that transported the salvaged hull and other parts from 5805 across Iwakuni.

According to the JMSDF announcement that followed that inquiry, during the training power from one of the engines was lost after having been struck by waves, so in response an emergency takeoff with the remaining three engines was to be conducted. It was reportedly due to the excessive operation and maneuvering to control the attitude of the aircraft at that time that the engine impacted the surface of the sea and broke off. Another factor was that technical publications such as the US-2 pilot’s handbook did not provide specific procedures or criteria for a three-engine takeoff from the sea. The JMSDF chief of staff member from the 31st Fleet Air Group who gave the briefing was at pains to explain that excessive operation did not constitute an error on the part of the pilot in command.

To prevent a recurrence, it was planned to carry out a phased training programme, including US-2 offshore takeoffs, and to review the engine-out landing procedures. Any practical operational inputs, such as for rescues at sea, were expected to take place after their resumption from March 2016 onward.

The Japan Ministry of Defense announced on December 18, 2015, that a US-2 was to be procured under the FY2015 supplementary budget as part of additional funding earmarked to provide enhanced cover for disaster relief; another aircraft followed under the FY2016 supplementary budget. The former, the seventh US-2, was first flown on February 10 but officially rolled out on February 20, 2020, the 50th in the line that had started with the roll-out of the first PS-1 on October 2, 1967. The latter, eighth aircraft made its first water takeoff on April 18, 2022. 

Funding for a ninth US-2 was earmarked in the FY2021 budget request and approved.

The rare sight of two US-2s on the ramp at ShinMaywa’s Konan Plant
(Photo [May 2022]: ハム。B.R.A via Twitter @hamu4207)

Mitsubishi-Sikorsky SH-60K

 (Photo: JMSDF)

The first of the two prototypes of what was to become the SH-60K made its maiden flight on March 27, 2001; the type entered squadron service in August 2005. The 66th aircraft of a now 81 confirmed orders for production aircraft flew for the first time on April 6, 2020, the 70th in October that year. In 2021, the 71st was undergoing hovering trials in March, and the 75th aircraft followed suit in December. 

The three aircraft purchased under the FY2012 supplementary budget (8449-8451) had all been due for delivery by the end of March 2016. An FY2015 request for an additional five was whittled down to just two helicopters, but a bulk order for 17 under FY2016 funding already exceeded by two the FY2014–2018 MTDP provision for 23 helicopters. The 10th of those 17 aircraft was test flying in mid-September 2020, with the remaining seven due for delivery in the course of 2021.

The Japan Ministry of Defense released figures that showed the pace at which the SH-60K had superseded the SH-60J over the years FY2015 to FY2019:

As an ongoing stop-gap measure, funding has also been made available to cover SH-60J/K service life extension programmes. For example, work on two SH-60Js and a single SH-60K was factored into the FY2016 budget; two of each into that for FY2017.

Commencing in FY2021, funding has been made available to modify SH-60Ks for the rescue role and thereby compensate for the gradual withdrawal from service of UH-60Js. The initial funding for a single rescue-optimized aircraft was followed by two more under the FY2022 budget. 

Mitsubishi-Sikorsky SH-60K Procurement by Fiscal Year

(*) Additional three aircraft from supplementary budget.
No additional procurement included in budgets from FY2017 to FY2019.

Mitsubishi-Sikorsky XSH-60L

While continuing to place orders for the SH-60K and requesting funds to extend the service lives of small numbers of SH-60J helicopters, the JMSDF also received 7.0 billion yen of FY2015 funding with which to conduct R&D into a new patrol helicopter.

The Japan Ministry of Defense website stated that the requirement called for the helicopter to be able to hunt for submarines around Japan, even in shallow waters, in concert with other aircraft. The basic design was to be completed by FY2017, and a prototype scheduled to undergo flight testing in the early 2020s.

On November 20, 2015, a 6.9 billion yen contract was signed between the Ministry of Defense and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the building of a prototype, based on the SH-60K, that was to have been delivered in February 2018.

The first visible result of MHI’s delayed efforts came with the appearance of a prototype, provisionally designated the XSH-60L but permanently given the serial 8501, in October 2020. Although specific details of its improvements and modifications are unknown, the logical conclusion was that the former SH-60JKai/USH-60K (8901) was modified to save time and money. This aircraft was most recently utilized for research into potential UH-60J upgrades, before the decision was taken to gradually make SAR operations entirely a Japan Coast Guard and, when necessary, JASDF task. For the time being, the two pairs of then and now photos below and this image (link) offer external comparisons.

The first batch of six SH-60Ls was included in the FY2023 budget.

(Photo [8901 at Akeno, Nov. 2018]: Hunini via Wikimedia Commons)
(Photo [8501 at Nagoya, Oct. 2020]: アルティア via Twitter @kagakukougyou20)
(Photo [8901 at Akeno, Nov. 2018]: Hunini via Wikimedia Commons)
(Photo [8501 at Nagoya, Oct. 2020]: アルティア via Twitter @kagakukougyou20)

In January 2023, the fifth-built SH-60K was decommisssioned at Tateyama after 18 years’ service (see Bulletin Board story). Meanwhile, production continues, and the 83rd and last of this variant is expected to be completed by the end of March 2024.

JMSDF HELICOPTER PROJECT

Multipurpose Helicopter

The UH-60J rescue helicopter became a common sight at JMSDF bases as the type gradually entered widespread service from the early 1990s. Initially delivered for test purposes on December 9, 1991, the first example of 19 was officially retired at a ceremony held on May 30, 2014.

During the previous MTDP (up to FY2018), the SDF was to make a start on an organizational reform under which the land-based aerial SAR role would ultimately be integrated and brought solely under JASDF control. The following current MTDP thus specified that the nine multipurpose helicopters to be acquired by the JMSDF were intended to be ship-based, providing rescue and logistic support in keeping with the naval fleet’s expanding operational remit.

Presumably, this requirement will now merely result in additional orders for either SH-60Ks or Kawasaki-built AgustaWestland CH-101 helicopters. 

Completed/Irregular Aircraft Procurement

Lockheed C-130R Hercules

Under a foreign military sales (FMS) contract with the U.S. Navy, the JMSDF acquired six aircraft of this type to both replace the last of its YS-11s and significantly boost its airlift capability.

All former U.S. Marine Corps KC-130Rs, the aircraft will be making a return to Japan, where they once saw service with VMGR-152 at MCAS Iwakuni. The contract also covered the supply of 30 overhauled T56-A-16 engines. Classroom training courses for flight and maintenance personnel were provided by CAE in Tampa, Florida.

The first C-130R to arrive in Japan, 9052 was built in 1975 and, after refurbishment, initially
assigned to the 51st Fleet Air Squadron at Atsugi. (Photo: Japan Ministry of Defense)

The aircraft were taken from the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) facility at Davis-Monthan AB, near Tucson in Arizona, where they had been in storage since the mid-2000s. Involving structural enhancements and corrosion repair as well as the installation of glass cockpits, the modification and upgrade work—undertaken at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex (OO-ALC) at Hill AFB, Utah, commencing in February 2013—was originally expected to take up to a year to complete and result in the first C-130R arriving in Japan in March 2014. The schedule slipped somewhat, as flight training only commenced on the first aircraft (9051, ex-160015, bearing the “51” tail code of the Atsugi-based 51st Fleet Air Squadron) at Davis-Monthan in mid-June 2014. Noted at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland two months later, the second aircraft (51:9052) was the first to arrive at Atsugi, on November 14, 2014, and was followed by the third aircraft late that same month. The second aircraft had its tail unit code changed from “51” to “61”, that of the JMSDF’s transport 61st Fleet Air Squadron that formerly operated the YS-11.

Identifiable by a black blade antenna fitted above its cockpit, the fourth C-130R arrived at Atsugi at the end of its ferry flight on March 4, 2015.

AgustaWestland MCH-101

Six of the minesweeping MCH-101 variant of the AgustaWestand AW101 are currently in JMSDF service. Of a total requirement for 14, funding was provided for 10 aircraft, spread over eight years from FY2003.

(*) Additional two aircraft from supplementary budget. Another added under FY2022 in response to JMSDF fleet expansion.

The first example was flown for the first time at the AgustaWestland factory at Yeovilton in England on February 15, 2005, arrived at the Gifu plant of Japanese prime contractor Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) three months later and was delivered in March 2006. A second UK-supplied example arrived in March 2007.

Like the two CH-101s acquired for operations aboard the Antarctic research vessel Shirase, all subsequent MCH-101s have been manufactured under licence by KHI. The eighth example was being flight tested in mid-November 2015.

While the pilot maintains the aircraft in the hover, an AN/AQS-24A airborne mine hunting system is
deployed from the rear of the JMSDF’s sixth MCH-101. Northrop Grumman publicity materials
describe the AN/AQS-24A as the only operationally proven, high-speed airborne mine
hunting system in the world. (Photo: AgustaWestland)

Handed over to the JMSDF at Gifu on February 27, 2015, the sixth MCH-101 was the first equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/AQS-24A airborne mine hunting system and the Northrop Grumman AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS), which together provide mine-detection capability from the surface to the seabed. Seen testing the standard Mk 104 minesweeping rig fitted to JMSDF MH-53Es in January 2016, the aircraft was utilized by the 51st Fleet Air Squadron trials unit at Atsugi prior to the system’s service entry that year. 

In contrast, a 111th Fleet Air Squadron MCH-101 seen resting in the maintenance hangar at
Iwakuni in September 2012.

Displayed on the deck of the Antarctic survey vessel Shirase when on a visit to Kobe in September 2011, 
the second CH-101 entered service in June 2009. The first had joined the ranks in
September 2007, and a third aircraft was ordered in the FY2012 budget.
(Photo: OpenCage via Wikimedia Commons)

Airbus Helicopters TH-135 (Eurocopter EC135T2+)

 (Photo: JMSDF)

The first example of this type was delivered in December 2009, the 13th and currently last in early December 2014. This type has been utilized for the training of rotary-wing pilots since November 2011 and for an instrument flying training course since April 2012. No request was made for additional aircraft under the FY2015 budget, but Airbus Helicopters Japan surprisingly announced that two additional aircraft, the 14th and 15th examples, were delivered on December 15, 2015. One was presumably acquired as a replacement for the Hughes OH-6DA involved in a tragic accident while on a training flight on February 12, 2015.

Staff at the Kobe base of Airbus Helicopters Japan bid farewell to the 15th and final TH-135.
(Photo: Airbus Helicopters Japan/Koichi Nakagawa)

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unless otherwise stated.)