Civil Aviation Industry
Japanese aerospace companies have established themselves in the global aerospace industry as important manufacturers of a wide range of civil, military, and corporate aerospace products. They supply components and structures for a broad spectrum of commercial aircraft (especially Boeing and Airbus jet transports) and aircraft engines. But although they are respected as suppliers, Japanese firms have not been able to successfully produce a commercial transport aircraft. Despite its long history in aerospace manufacturing, by 2008 Japan did not currently produce its own commercial aircraft and has never produced a commercial jet.
While Japan supports one of the area’s more advanced aerospace manufacturing sectors, the nation’s limited land area, past experience with commercial aircraft production, and focus on military products and international subcontracting work account for Japan’s poor showing in the civil aviation market. The country faces a number of obstacles to full-scale participation in aircraft manufacturing, including air transport infrastructure and regulatory constraints that limit the potential of the domestic market to support an aircraft program, reliance on the military sector, relatively high costs, and national policies which prohibit the export of dual civilian and military use technology and products.
The aerospace sector’s advanced technological capabilities, reputation for high-quality products, and relative financial strength are conducive to continued collaborative arrangements with global aerospace entities and a possible role as partner in an aircraft development program. Annual production of Japan’s aircraft manufacturing industry is valued at approximately $10 billion. The industry is heavily geared towards meeting the needs of the Japanese Defense Ministry (MOD). Other production supplies frames, wings, and other parts and components to foreign aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, and Bombardier. Of the total domestic production in 2005, defense orders accounted for 54 percent and exports for 27 percent.
While the wartime Japan aircraft industry had produced excellent fighters, only Nakajima Aircraft (the forerunner of today's Fuji Heavy Industries) had ever designed and built a passenger airplane, the 8-seat AT2. A ban on aircraft production during the U.S. occupation after World War II kept Japan out of the aerospace sector until 1952, at which time the country became involved in licensed production of military aircraft, followed by subcontracting work. In Japan the industry instead became a victim of inter-ministerial battles among three ministries: the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), in charge of producing of aircraft, the Ministry of Transportation that given charge of air traffic operations, and the JDA, in charge of military aircraft development.
While usually successful, the consortium approach did not do as well to build a domestic aircraft industry in Japan. Making airplanes turned out to be an exception in Japanese business partly also because of the involvement of several government agencies at varying levels. In other Japanese industries, such as steel, semiconductors, and computers, a single ministry, the Ministry of International Trade and Industries (MITI) had these managed consortiums relatively successfully.
Japan’s attempts to take its innovative skills and subcontracting experience to the level of civil airframe competitor have been largely unsuccessful, evident in the country’s YS-11 regional aircraft program and the numerous delays in Japan’s plan to build a successor to the YS-11. The YS-11, a Japanese-designed 64-seat passenger turboprop developed in the 1960s, was deemed technically sound, but few orders materialized because of market demand for jet-powered aircraft and the lack of global product support. The program incurred huge losses, and at the close of production in 1973, only 182 aircraft had been produced.
The industry’s successor program, the YS-X 100-seat regional transport, in development since the 1980s, has produced only feasibility studies and funding for the program was cut to $1.3 million for 1998-99, presumably in response to a growing competitive environment in the medium-sized aircraft sector and the industry’s lack of progress on the program. Japan hoped that Boeing might be the Western partner to support its YS-X project, but the company’s decision to produce the 717-200 appeared to preclude U.S.-Japanese cooperation on the similar YS-X program.
Japan’s aircraft industry is consolidated under the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies. The country’s aerospace manufacturing industry, led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fuji Heavy Industries, and Shin Meiwa Kogyo Company, also produces engines, components, electronics, and avionics, and is involved in supersonic transport research.
The Japanese aircraft industry is characterized by a substantial number of linkages with foreign aerospace entities, including codevelopment arrangements, joint ventures, and coproduction and licensing agreements which provide the nation with technology transfer opportunities and civil aircraft manufacturing experience. The strongest of these relationships is between Japanese manufacturers and Boeing, which has given the country subcontracting work for the 737, 747, 757, 767, and 777. Japan produced 15 percent of the 767, including the fuselage panels, fairings, main landing gear doors, and other components, and 20 percent of the 777, including the central section of the wing, fuselage panels, and doors.
Over the past 50 years, Japan’s aircraft industry has grown in partnership with foreign manufacturers for joint production of aircraft and aircraft engines. In the military sector, the development of next-generation maritime patrol and transport aircraft by Japan’s Defense Agency will offer potential business opportunities for advanced aircraft engines, avionics, and aircraft parts. On the commercial side, consolidation of domestic airlines and creation of regional air routes will create new opportunities for small regional jets. Development of Japan’s indigenous civil transport plane, YSX, will also provide U.S. suppliers of advanced technology and equipment with potential opportunities to work with domestic manufacturers.
Long-term partnerships among U.S. aircraft and aircraft parts makers, domestic manufacturers, and trading firms have anchored the overwhelming U.S. presence in the Japanese market. Japan continues to offer a lucrative market for imported aircraft and aircraft parts, including aircraft engines. Long-term relationships — some spanning over fifty years — between U.S. aircraft and aircraft parts makers and Japanese manufacturers and trading firms has given the United States an overwhelming presence in Japan’s market.
In the civil aircraft market, Japan's two largest carriers, Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA), have consistently selected Boeing aircraft, including cargo freighters, virtually eliminating commercial aircraft orders from Airbus. However, with Airbus newly established in Japan, competition between Boeing and Airbus is expected to heat up in the commercial aircraft market. Further growth in Japan’s industry is expected to result from international joint projects (such as Boeing’s 737, 777, and 787), domestic development of military patrol and transport aircraft, and feasibility studies of a new environmentally friendly small jet.
As an international joint development and manufacturing partner for Embraer 170 as well as its family aircraft the Embraer 175, 190 and 195, Kawasaki is responsible for designing and manufacturing main wing components that are cornerstones of aircraft technologies. Kawasaki’s Gifu Works has been providing components to the Brazilian company for the smaller 70-78 seat class Embraer 170/175 since April 2001. Kawasaki entered into a contract for development and production of the wing box and other wing components of the Embraer 190/195 in May 2001 and is currently carrying out development for this. In addition to the wing stub (center wing) and mobile wings such as flaps, ailerons and spoilers, which Kawasaki has been producing under contract for the Embraer 170/175, Kawasaki has added the wing box to its lineup, thus meaning the company develops and manufactures the entire wing of the Embraer 190/195.
In late 2003 Kawasaki Aeronáutica do Brasil Indústria, ltda. (KAB), a subsidiary of Kawasaki that was established last year, completed the construction of a new plant to assemble the main wing components of the Embraer 190/195 (90-108 seat regional jet), which has been jointly designed and developed by Embraer and Kawasaki. An opening ceremony was held on April 24 for the new plant. Embraer, a world-class aircraft manufacturer of Brazil, constructed an aircraft assembly plant in the city of Gavião Peixoto, 300km northwest of São Paulo, complete with 5km runway and aircraft assembly hangar.
On October 19, 2004 Japan Aircraft Development Corporation (JADC), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (KHI), and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd (FHI) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) outlining key terms and conditions for their participation in the development and production of the 7E7 Dreamliner with The Boeing Company. In this project, MHI will be responsible for the main wing box. KHI will provide part of the forward fuselage section, the main landing gear wheel well and the main wing fixed trailing edge. FHI is focused on the center wing box and integration of the center wing box with the main landing gear wheel well. The total work share of Japanese firms will account for approximately 35% of the 7E7 structure.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the first company in Japan to manufacture and market jetliners, launched the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) in 2008. MHI has created the tentatively-named Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation to conduct MRJ’s business, and the Corporation has been capitalised at ¥3 billion with calls to increase up to ¥100 billion (around £500 million) in line with business operations development.
| First Delivery Year | Model | Application | Development & Manufacture | No. of Aircraft | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | KAL-1/-2 | Piston liaison | KHI | 4 | |
| 1954 | KAT | Piston trainer | KHI | 2 | |
| 1956 | LM-1 | Piston liaison | FHI | 27 | |
| 1958 | LM-2 | Piston trainer | FHI | 66 | |
| 1960 | T-1 | Intermediate jet trainer | FHI | 66 | |
| 1962 | KH-4 | General-purpose helicopter | KHI | 203 | |
| 1965 | YS-11 | Turboprop transport | NAMCO | 182 | |
| 1966 | MU-2 | Business turboprop | MHI | 765 | |
| 1967 | FA-200 | Piston light plane | FHI | 299 | |
| 1968 | PS-1 | Turboprop antisubmarine patrol | SMIC | 23 | |
| 1969 | P-2J | Turboprop antisubmarine | KHI | 83 | |
| 1970 | C-1 | Jet transport | Dev.: NAMCO, Mfg.: KHI | 31 | |
| 1971 | T-2 | Supersonic jet trainer | MHI | 96 | |
| 1974 | US-1 | Turboprop rescue amphibian | SMIC | 20 | |
| 1975 | FA-300 | Business piston | FHI | 47 | |
| 1977 | F-1 | Jet support fighter | MHI | 77 | |
| 1977 | T-3 | Primary piston trainer | FHI | 50 | |
| 1980 | MU-300 | Business jet | MHI | 103 | |
| 1985 | T-4 | Intermediate jet trainer | KHI | 212 | |
| 1988 | T-5 | Primary turboprop trainer | FHI | 36 | |
| 1997 | OH-1 | Observation helicopter | KHI | 22 | |
| 1999 | MH2000 | Multi-purpose helicopter | MHI | 7 | |
| 2002 | T-7 | Primary turboprop trainer | FHI | 43 |
