JGSDF Primary Air Unit Order of Battle

(As at August 1, 2024)

A 106th Sqn CH-47J departs Zentsuji Army Camp in Kagawa Prefecture, airlifting 14th Brigade
troops on a rapid deployment exercise to Yonaguni, the westernmost inhabited island in Japan.
(Photo [Oct. 2020]: JGSDF Middle Army via Twitter @JGSDF_MA_pr)

The landmark yellow sign of an express home delivery company helps to identify the location of this
Osprey as Omura, actually on the day of the JMSDF base’s air show in May 2023. Having arrived
at Iwakuni by late March 2023, this aircraft seems to have been used to show the flag in western
Japan before being transferred to the main Osprey roost at Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture. Its
migratory route to Japan had involved a stop at NAS North Island, San Diego,in
February 2023 (link). (Photo: WANI via X [formerly Twitter] @wanikon48)

A JGSDF ground crew member moves to finish positioning the chocks around the wheels of a Fuji-
Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow at Camp Kita-Utsunomiya in May 2013. Primarily for reasons
of cost and delivery time span, Japan halted the type’s licence production at the 13th airframe.

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

GROUND STAFF OFFICE (Ichigaya, Tokyo)

1st Anti-Tank Helicopter Squadron AH-1S helicopters take part in a winter training exercise.
(Photo: JGSDF)
 A Fuji-Bell UH-1J assigned to a Northern Army division’s aviation squadron causes a mini
snowstorm close to a tank column. (Photo: JGSDF)

In January 2020, on the traditional occasion of the first formation training flight of the
New Year, the Northern Army launched five UH-1Js and six AH-1Ss as
well as its LR-2 for a mission over the city of Sapporo.
(Photo: JGSDF Northern Army via Twitter @NorthernArmy_pr)

Northern Army Helicopter Sqn UH-1J 41810 hover taxying around Okadama in July 2023.
(Photo: YouKey via X [formerly Twitter] @viper7107)

Although still bearing the Hachinohe-based 2nd Anti-Tank Helicopter Sqn’s “IIATH” code aft of its
cockpit, this OH-1 was being operated at the Kasumigaura Aviation School, Ibaraki Prefecture,
in May 2014. Note the airliner, presumably departing from Ibaraki Airport, being pointed out 
by the tail aerial. All OH-1s were grounded following an accident in December 2015 and
only returned to service in March 2019. (See Bulletin Board, March 1, 2019)

An important aspect of community liaison for most SDF bases involves the recruitment of local  
residents to serve as monitors of all aspects of base operations for one year. Ignoring the cold 
weather in northern Japan but taking advantage of the low incidence of COVID-19 cases in
the prefecture, air experience flights were arranged for Iwate Army Camp monitors in late
November 2020. (Photo: JGSDF Iwate Army Camp via Twitter @Gsdf_Camp_Iwate)

Aircraft assigned to the Eastern Army Helicopter Squadron’s 1st Flight have a
white “V” nose marking and a single white fuselage stripe.

(Above) A Fuji-built AH-1S Cobra from the 4th Anti-Tank Helicopter Sqn at Kisarazu Army Camp.
(Below) An aircraft from the same unit has its engine changed by Eastern Army Aviation flight
maintenance personnel at Tachikawa.

A ground crew member waves as a Kawasaki OH-1 assigned to the Eastern Army Helicopter
Squadron’s HQ Flight inches airborne at Tachikawa Army Camp.

The marking on the nose and main fuselage door of this UH-1J denotes an aircraft from the
Tachikawa-based 1st Division’s 1st Aviation Squadron.

(Photo [of 12th HU CH-47J, posted Nov. 2020]: steelbird via Twitter @steelbird01)

A bucolic setting for a UH-60JA from the 1st Sqn of the 12th Helicopter Unit
(Photo [March 2023]: stone via X [formerly Twitter] @stone15DJ)

* The first UH-2 for the Central Army arrived in March 2024.
** The 3rd Flight formed with two CH-47Js at Camp Yonago/JASDF Miho, Tottori Prefecture, on
      March 27, 2018. 

A fine study of a Central Army UH-1J, taken from the tower during the Crossland Oyabe
Helicopter Festival (see this website [link]) in August 2023.
(Photo [posted Jan. 2024]: オポッサム via X [formerly Twitter] @Opossum787)

AH-1S 73441 of the 5th ATH at the Crossland Oyabe Helicopter Festival (see this website [link]),
in August 2022 (Photo: CASTLE41 via X [formerly Twitter] @NRT0234)

A 14th AvSqn UH-1J operating in the city of Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, in September 2020,
when the 14th Brigade was conducting air mobility deployment training. With the support of sister 
units and JASDF as well as JMSDF elements, the training scenario called for troops to be rapidly
deployed the 600 km from their base in Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture, to the island city.
(Photo: JGSDF 14th Brigade via Twitter @JGSDF_MA_14B_pr)

* The first UH-2 for the Western Army Helicopter Squadron was delivered in July 2024.
** Based at Takayubaru, Kumamoto
*** Officially renamed from 3rd ATH on Mar. 18, 2021, one of its original two flights having disbanded
     following the last AH-1S flight the previous day. 

While implementing extensive mission and command structure changes under a previous
Medium-Term Defense Plan, the JGSDF selected the Bell 412EPI for its UH-X
requirement to replace the UH-1J workhorse utility helicopter (above).
 (Photo: JGSDF) 

Destined for service with the Western Army HQ Flight, this aircraft was fitted with a radome for
satellite communications equipment in the summer of 2021.
(Photo [Sendai, August 2021]: 飛行機・鉄道大好きな人via Twitter @kimi_boku_anata)
(See also Bulletin Board entry for September 2021.)

The second CH-47JA delivered to the JGSDF was in service with the 3rd ‘Kingfisher’ Flight
of the Western Helicopter Squadron at Takayubaru in 2020.
(Photo [posted Oct. 2020]: 空のウオンバット* via Twitter @Umi_Sora_2)

(Above and below) The rare sight of a JGSDF AH-64D on board the JMSDF helicopter carrier
Hyūga, which carried two during Exercise Keen Sword, the U.S.-Japan joint training exercise
that was held in the waters around Okinawa from late October to early November 2020.(Photos: [top] Japan Ministry of Defense/JMSDF Mine Warfare Force;
[above] JMSDF Public Affairs Office via Twitter@JMSDF_PAO)

The Western Army Helicopter Squadron’s first UH-2, the 15th built, arrives to equip the 2nd Flight at
Metabaru, July 12, 2024. Covered in a local Saga TV News report (link), the type is the unit’s first
new equipment since the AH-64 in 1990. (Photo: JGSDF Western Army via X @JGSDF_WA_pr)

* In a move associated with the activation of  the JGSDF’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade on April 7, 2018, the command of the 1st Helicopter Brigade passed to the direct command of the Ground Staff Office. 
+ Formed under the Transport Aviation Group at Takayubaru, Kumamoto Prefecture, on March 26, 2020, in advance of first Osprey arrivals that July.

The JGSDF’s Transport Aviation Group commenced full-fledged V-22B Osprey flight operations
from Kisarazu in November 2020.
(Photos [Iwakuni, July 2020]: U.S. Indo-Pacific Command via Twitter @INDOPACOM)

Drafted in from their base at Kisarazu, a pair of 106th Sqn CH-47J Chinooks pass each other as
they fly members of the public along the length of the runway and back at Tachikawa,
a traditional activity during the base’s autumn Disaster Prevention Festival. 
  A hovering CH-47JA from the 106th Sqn, 1st Transport Helicopter Group kicks up a grass storm. 

A 103rd Sqn CH-47JA at JMSDF Tateyama in October 2013      

(Above and below) Two of the three Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) EC225LPs operated by
the Special Transport Helicopter Squadron.

An LR-2 assigned to the Liaison/Reconnaissance Flight of the 1st Helicopter Brigade at
Kisarazu visits JASDF Iruma AB in June 2023. The four stars in the rear window denote
the presence of a general on board. (Photo: DOLPHIN via X [formerly Twitter] @ s2f5g4)

A CH-47JA assigned to the Training Support Flight at Akeno, Mie Prefecture. (Photo: JGSDF)

A UH-60JA and UH-1J assigned to the Training Support Flight at Akeno in November 2017.
(Photo: Andy Binks)

UH-1J 41826 has been assigned to the Training Support Flight since around 2016. For the 70th
anniversary of Camp Okadama’s establishment in July 2023, the aircraft sported additional
markings: the standard samurai helmet badge marking of the Okadama-based 11th AvSqn
on its nose, and a more elaborate variation on its side doors (link).
(Photo: YouKey via X [formerly Twitter] @viper7107)

Two aircraft assigned to the branch Aviation School at Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefecture: an
early-model CH-47J  (above), with the school’s “SK” identification code visible aft of the
cockpit, and an AH-64D Apache Longbow (below).

The Raytheon (Beechcraft) LR-2 assigned to the branch of the JGSDF Aviation School at
Kita-Utsunomiya speeds in to land, while one of the based Fuji-Bell UH-1Js (below) stands at ease.
Replacing one lost in an accident in May 2017, a ninth LR-2 arrived in Japan in November 2020. 
 

Prior to the arrival of the first two V-22B Ospreys in May 2020, the latest type to be added to the
JGSDF’s inventory was the Enstrom TH-480B training helicopter, 26 of which were in
service by mid-January 2015. Interestingly, Enstrom was acquired by China’s
Chongqing Helicopter Investment Corporation in January 2013.

RECENT TYPE RETIREMENT

In early 2020 still operated by the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 10th and 13th AvSqns, the 102nd Sqn as well as the HQ Flight of the 12th Helicopter Squadron, which flew the last mission, the OH-6D was officially withdrawn from service on March 31.

Never to be seen again. A lineup of 10th and 13th AvSqn OH-6Ds at the November 2019 Akeno
air show, the last to feature them before the type’s retirement. (Photo: JGSDF/10th AvSqn)

According to a report in the June 2020 issue of Kōkū Fan magazine, 17 OH-6Ds had newly arrived to join those that have long since been awaiting their fate on “death row” in a Kasumigaura hangar. After the removal of reusable items of equipment, a few will be used for instructional purposes or placed on display, but the majority will be either sold or scrapped. At the time of writing (April 2020), of the 193 OH-6Ds built a total of around 65 remain scattered around the country.

During the type’s service career, a total of 12 aircraft were lost in accidents. The first occurred on May 30, 1983, the last on April 16, 2015, when the tail unit was severed during an emergency landing in a rice paddy in the Miyagino district of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. The aircraft had been on post-maintenance test flight; the pilot and a maintenance team member escaped uninjured. Half of the losses came as the result of midair collisions: on two occasions (July 10, 1987, and March 7, 2002) between two OH-6Ds; on another (February 14, 2001) with an AH-1S; and on yet another (August 21, 1997) with a civilian light aircraft. These four incidents alone tragically claimed the lives of 12 OH-6D crew members. 

The tail marking of this OH-6D denoted an aircraft assigned to the
1st Division’s 1st AvSqn at Tachikawa.

Those still with the JGSDF include six at Kita-Utsunomiya Aviation School formerly used for pilot ground training and maintenance instructional airframe purposes, the latter being a role for which some might yet receive a stay of execution. The type is popular as a gate guardian and around 14 are on display at JGSDF army camps at which there is no based aviation unit.

Aside from one privileged example retained by licensed manufacturer Kawasaki, a number of others have been acquired for technical training purposes at aeronautical colleges or loaned for display in public parks and even nursery schools. As listed on the JGSDF Where Are They Now? page, some are composite aircraft that have been fitted with another’s tailboom.

An OH-6D from the Northern Region Helicopter Squadron hovers over the scene of devastation in
Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, on April 12, 2011. The building on the left was the pharmacy 
near the station in the city that suffered the most catastrophic damage of any of those affected
by the March 11 tsunami. Like its sister services, the JGSDF plays a vital role as a first
responder and in ongoing rescue operations at times of natural disasters.
(Photo: Japan Ministry of Defense via Wikimedia Commons)

JGSDF Akeno Army Camp, March 17, 2020. 10th AvSqn personnel look on as the unit’s last two
OH-6Ds recede into the distance. (Photo: JGSDF/10th AvSqn)

(Photo [undated, JGSDF Yao Army Camp]: JGSDF Middle Army PR via Twitter @JGSDF_MA_pr)