2011-07-02

Converted US-2 Flying-boat Civilian Use: Ministry of Defense Approves Export to India In Sight and More to Follow

July2, 2011

Japan’s Ministry of Defense will approve civilian conversion of several defense assets for possible export to Asian market. The first of this new approach will take place with US-2 search and rescue flying boat. Shin-maywa, the maker of the aircraft has started its sales to India and Brunei as fire-fighting aircraft.
  1. All of technical information belongs to the Ministry by the contract and it calls for approval by the minister for the Shin-maywa to use the intellectual property for its own commercial use. Since the flying boat is not designed for combat, the government has understood its export cannot violate Japan’s Three Principles to Ban Weapons Export. With the approval by the ministry, Shin-maywa will be able to show detailed data of the aircraft to potential foreign customers.
  2. The price tag is expected to JPY7-8 billion (about US$100 million) per aircraft and the maker will pay a certain amount of commission to the ministry. Higher than Bombardiar’s flying boats, US-2 has appealing performance such as lower speed flight and the ministry and the maker estimate a certain demands in market. Shin-maywa will complete its variant as fire fighting type and try to sel to domestic local governments for 3 to 5 units.
  3. India and Brunei are showing strong interest in US-2; most probably the two nations are thinking of China as future threat and expanding their assets while keeping stronger ties with Japan by importing Japanese defense assets.
  4. After US-2, most probably two types of aircraft will follow the case of defense-to-civilian conversion: C-2, twin-jet air transport and P-1, four-jet propelled maritime patrol aircraft, both developed jointly by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and the Ministry of Defense.

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