page_title: Kawasaki Aerospace Company
section_title: Under Kawasaki Heavy Industries
hierarchical_section_title: Kawasaki Aerospace Company / History / Under Kawasaki Heavy Industries
caption_attribution_description: Kawasaki P-1
context_page_description: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace Company is the aerospace division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It produces aircraft, space systems, simulators, jet engines, missiles, and electronic equipment.
  During the 1930s and 1940s, Kawasaki Aircraft Industries developed numerous types of aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Army, such as the Type 88 reconnaissance aircraft, the Ki-48 Sokei bomber, and the Ka 61 Hien fighter, up until the end of the Second World War. Shortly after the occupation of Japan started in 1945, Japan's aviation industry was intentionally dismantled and aircraft factories converted for other purposes; the ban on aircraft development was lifted during March 1954, allowing for the nation's aviation industry to be revived. During 1969, Kawasaki Kokuki Kogyo KK was restructured as a formal subsidiary of KHI.
  Throughout the postwar era, the company has produced numerous aircraft under license from various overseas manufacturers for Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces, alongside its own designs. Licensed aircraft have included the P-2J, KH-4 helicopters, Kawasaki KV-107 helicopters, and CH-47J / JA heavy-lift helicopters.
context_section_description: During April 1969, the former Kawasaki Kokuki K.K. was dissolved and became a division of the reorganized Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). Kawasaki is a major contractor for the Japanese Ministry of Defense. Although in November 1970, Kawasaki completed Japan's first domestically designed twin turbofan military transport, the C-1, the company concentrated primarily on licensed production of derivatives of American patrol aircraft and helicopters through the 1990s. Kawasaki built 82 P-2Js (derived from the Lockheed P-2 Neptune), 211 KH-4 helicopters (derived from the Bell 47), 160 Kawasaki KV-107 helicopters (derived from the Boeing Vertol 107 Model II), and Hughes/McDonnell Douglas Model 500D and OH-6DA helicopters. Kawasaki also built 101 P-3C antisubmarine warfare patrol airplanes plus four EP-3/UP-3D electronic intelligence/training variants, and 68 CH-47J / JA.
  On 25 February 1977, Kawasaki and German aerospace manufacturer Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) signed an agreement to cooperate on the development of a new rotorcraft; under the terms of this agreement, the two corporations merged their previously separate projects to produce twin-engined general purpose helicopters, these being the Bo 107 by MBB and the KH-7 from Kawasaki. Separate elements were assigned to each company; MBB were responsible for developing the rotors (these were based on the rigid rotor system previously used on MBB's Bo 105), tailboom, flight controls and hydraulic system while Kawasaki undertook the development of the landing gear, airframe, main transmission, electrical system and other minor components. Each company established their own final assembly lines on which they produced the rotorcraft to meet demands within their respective local markets.
  During the 1970s and 1980s, Kawasaki developed an indigenous intermediate jet trainer and liaison aircraft, the T-4. Manufacture was performed by a consortium consisting of Mitsubishi, Fuji, and Kawasaki, the latter providing leadership over the venture. The final assembly line for the type was established at Kawasaki's plant in Gifu, capable of producing a maximum of two and a half aircraft per month. In addition to economic and performance consideration, the T-4's design had to incorporate political desires as well; significant emphasis had been placed upon powering it with the first all-Japanese production turbofan engine, the Ishikawajima-Harima F3-IHI-30. According to aerospace publication Flight International, it was considered plausible for the T-4 to have been a competitive product upon the global trainer aircraft market, but such opportunities were denied by a long-standing Japanese policy that forbid military export sales.
  On 18 September 1992, Kawasaki was appointed by the Ministry of Defense to produce the OH-1, an indigenously designed armed observation and light attack helicopter. It was responsible for manufacturing 50 per cent of the airframe, as well as coordinating development of its rotor system; the remaining airframe elements were manufactured by Mitsubishi and Fuji. During June 1998, after finalising a production contract and receipt of an initial order earlier that year, series production of the OH-1 officially commenced. By the late 1990s, the JGSDF had announced that its plans to eventually procure between 150 and 250 OH-Xs to meet its requirements. Kawasaki has proposed multiple derivatives of the OH-1, including a utility variant intended to replace the JGSDF's fleet of Fuji-built Bell UH-1J Iroquois helicopters, and an attack-oriented version tentatively designated as the AH-2.
  During the 2000s, the company developed two closely related multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the XP-1 maritime patrol airplane and the XC-2 transport aircraft. Kawasaki was appointed as the prime contractor for both programmes during 2001, its launch occurred almost 30 years after the previous large-scale domestic development of an aircraft in Japan. Although the P-X and C-X designs were originally independent, it was decided that having common components to both designs would be useful. T
caption: Underside of a P-1 inflight, note the open bomb bay
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