Jasdf Aircraft - 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;
Jasdf Aircraft
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. On October 2, 2015, a ceremony was held at Northrop Grumman Corporation's Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center to mark the completion of the center fuselage for the first of those 38 indigenously produced aircraft (AX-5).
F- Turbofan Engine
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 first production aircraft was delivered to the Japanese Defense Agency in March 2005. The aircraft are being assembled at Mitsubishi's Komaki South Plant in Nagoya.
MHI expects to complete deliveries of 76 aircraft in the near future. The aircraft is equipped with a General Electric F110-GE-129 afterburning turbofan engine. The engine develops 131.7kN and the speed of the aircraft is Mach 2. The F-2 produces 17,000lb of thrust, with 29,000lb generated when the burners are switched on.
At the time of the announcement of the type's first overseas sales success, the U.S. Air Force KC-46A Pegasus program 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.
The first aircraft [link] 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
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.) 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. There are two Frazer Nash common rail launchers manufactured by Nippi. The aircraft is capable of deploying the Raytheon AIM-7F/M medium-range Sparrow air-to-air missile, the Raytheon AIM-9L short-range Sidewinder and the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries AAM-3 short-range air-to-air missile.
. 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.
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).
F- Fighter Programme And Development
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.
The budget system employed by the Japanese 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.
To be based at Miho AB in Tottori Prefecture, Japan's KC-46A fleet will be capable of refueling 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 beginning in August 2017. 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. Japan Air Self-Defense Force EC-1 Electronic Warfare operations at Iruma Air Base.
The Kawasaki C-1 is a twin-engine military transport aircraft developed and manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). […] 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 begin 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. The first, modernized, refueling-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. Japan joins Qatar and Germany and elects to train JASDF (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) pilots at the Italian Air Force's and Leonardo's International Flight Training School (IFTS).
The new International Flight Training School (IFTS), a […] 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. The initial order was for 81 aircraft. A further five were ordered in March 2007 in a $150m contract.
MHI awarded a further $250m contract to Lockheed Martin in April 2008 to manufacture components for eight more F-2 aircraft. The contract was the 12th annual contract awarded by MHI to Lockheed Martin. 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 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 program, 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 nevertheless 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. 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. 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 similarly leaden skies, still at Iwakuni, in late June 2020. (Photos: Seagull-jap via Twitter @miejapan4) 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 favor 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. Under the previous MTDP, which ran until FY2018, the Japanese 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.
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.
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: 海の电影时りvia Twitter @SkyWatching_) 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). 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. The second prototype had made its first flight on January 27, 2011, and immediately joined the flight test program. 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.
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