Rumours abounding that the Japanese may be sending two P-1s to RIAT this year. Nothing officially announced as yet. If so, it would seem a serious intent to show them off to the MoD.
AW&ST:
Kawasaki P-1 To Make International Debut In U.K.
Japan is to send two of its new generation Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft to the U.K. with the aim of marketing the platform to the British as a future submarine hunter. The two aircraft from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces will make their much-anticipated international debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo on July 17-19 appearing in both the static and flying displays at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire.
The visit comes as Japan aims to push the four-engined aircraft into the export market and to meet an expected U.K. requirement for a maritime patroller that is widely expected emerge in the U.K.’s Strategic Defense and Security Review towards the end of this year.
The visit is highly significant and represents the first appearance of an indigenous Japanese military aircraft at a foreign airshow since 1997. But it is also the first time such a machine will have been been deployed with the aim trying to sell it overseas. Japan’s decades-old rules on exporting military equipment were only relaxed in 2014.
In January reports emerged that Japanese officials had talked about offering the P-1 to the U.K. at the Farnborough Airshow last year. Both London and Tokyo have been exploring closer defense ties for many years and this has resulted in significant discussions about the development of a new generation seeker head technology being developed in Japan which could find its way onto the MBDA Meteor air-to-air missile. Japanese pilots are also understood to have visited the U.K. to fly the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Japan is buying the Kawasaki P-1 to replace the country’s aging fleet of Lockheed P-3 Orion patrol aircraft. The aircraft entered operational service in 2013. Twenty of the aircraft are on order to be delivered up to 2021. Japan is also courting a number of potential foreign sales of its Shin Maywa US-2 amphibious long-range patrol aircraft.
Japanese military aircraft rarely attend airshows beyond the country’s borders. However Japan Air Self-Defense Force aircraft have attended the Air Tattoo before, with the air arm making its debut at the show in 2012, bringing a Boeing KC-767 tanker and making a repeat visit in 2014.
The P-1 won’t be the only aircraft at the show battling for attention from British procurement officials. Boeing is sending a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon and its prototype Challenger business jet-based Maritime Surveillance Aircraft. Several Airbus Defense and Space C295s will also be at the show but not in maritime patrol configuration.