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The Japan Ministry of Defense released figures that showed the pace at which the P-1 had superseded the P-3C over the years FY2015 to FY2019: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

* Decommissioning ceremony held at ShinMaywa’s Konan Plant, August 7, 2024. (See Bulletin Board story.)

(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, including the latest built, on the ramp at ShinMaywa’s
Konan Plant in Kobe. (Photo [May 2022]: ハム。B.R.A via Twitter @hamu4207)

US-2 9907 returns to the Konan Plant following a test flight.
(Image from short video [link] posted on X in Dec. 2023 by ししもも @sisimomo2011)

Mitsubishi-Sikorsky SH-60

A pair of 22nd FAS SH-60Ks depart Ohmura in February 2024. Included in fiscal 2003 funding,
8412 had then already been in service for around 18 years. (Photo: SORAI via X @Sorai_130)

Rolled out on August 8, 2001, the first of the two SH-60JKai prototypes of what became the JMSDF’s mainstay SH-60K helicopter underwent hovering trials the following day. Its maiden flight took place within the confines of Nagoya Airport on August 16 before venturing a little further afield on August 17 that year. It was to be August 2005 that the type entered squadron service. 

Maintaining a steady pace of production (see Procurement by Fiscal Year table below), Mitsubishi had reached what subsequently proved to be the halfway point during 2013. The three aircraft purchased under the FY2012 supplementary budget (8451-8453) 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 three the FY2014–2018 MTDP provision for 23 helicopters. The seventh of those 17 aircraft (8466) flew for the first time on April 6, 2020, the 70th aircraft in October that year.

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:

The first of the final batch of seven aircraft was undergoing flight testing in October 2023. The 83rd and last of this variant was expected to have been completed by the end of March 2024, though this will likely have been affected by COVID-induced production delays.

A fine shot of a Tateyama-based 21st FAS SH-60K during a night training exercise off
Higashiogishima, an artificial island located in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture,
in February 2024. (Photo: Mizuki via X @214STmizuki)

In January 2023, the fifth-built SH-60K was decommissioned at Tateyama after 18 years’ service, and the 10th followed at Kanoya in February 2024 (see Bulletin Board stories). The aircraft that were about to be delivered can be expected to remain in service until the early 2040s.

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.

The SH-60K is also fulfilling the requirement for an aircraft to replace the UH-60J rescue helicopter, which 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.

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.

Having initially been commissioned as a patrol helicopter late in 2017, the first refurbished, now SAR-optimized aircraft (8455) was delivered to Tateyama in mid-November 2023. The second (2018-model 8457) was undergoing manufacturer’s hovering tests in January 2024.

(Above) The first refurbished, SAR-optimized SH-60K arrives back to join the 21st FAS at Tateyama
in mid-November 2023. (Below) Far from the MADing crowd. The interiors of SAR SH-60Ks are
undergoing a Marie Kondo-like decluttering to facilitate the use of rescue equipment.
(Photos: 21st Air Wing JMSDF via X @JMSDF_21aw)   

Mitsubishi-Sikorsky SH-60K Procurement by Fiscal Year

(*) Additional three aircraft from supplementary budget.
No additional procurement included in budgets from FY2017 to FY2019.
After a four-year hiatus, six aircraft were included in the FY2023 budget, but these was the initial order for the SH-60L variant (see below). 

(Photo: JMSDF)

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. The two pairs of then and now photos below and this image (link) offer external comparisons. 

(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)

The first batch of six SH-60Ls was included in the FY2023 budget, with another six added in that for FY2024. 

Now assigned to the JMSDF’s 51st Sqn test unit, the second SH-60L at the time of its debut training
flight with U.S. Navy MH-60Rs in March 2024. One of two XSH-60Ls, the aircraft formerly carried
low-viz Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency titling on its fuselage, as seen here at
Nagoya Airport in April 2021 (link). (Photo: Japan Ministry of Defense/JMSDF)

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)

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