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Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force to Train on Textron Aviation Defense’s Beechcraft T-6

Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force to Train on Textron Aviation Defense’s Beechcraft T-6

Textron Aviation Defense said it expects to finalize a contract in 2025 to supply the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, or JASDF, with its Beechcraft T-6 Texan II Integrated Training System. According to the company’s announcement of the pending deal, the system will modernize the JASDF’s training program through its T-6 Texan II trainer aircraft integrated with ground-based training not only for pilots but also instructors and aircraft maintainers.

Long-term maintenance and logistics support are also included in the contract that Textron Aviation Defense secured through a competitive bidding. With the T-6 in service, the JASDF will retire its Fuji/Subaru T-7 basic trainer aircraft.

Decades of Service Delivery

According to Travis Tyler, Textron Aviation Defense president and CEO, Japan’s choice of the T-6 Beechcraft system will deliver decades of training to the JASDF. “This selection affirms the capabilities of our T-6 Texan II Integrated Training System to enable a well-equipped, prominent and highly skilled JASDF to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” he said.

The JASDF requirements will be filled in coordination with the Kanematsu Group, a Textron Aviation partner since 1992 for the delivery of special mission aircrafts and parts in Japan.  

Textron Aviation Defense has supplied over 1,000 T-6 aircraft to 14 countries worldwide. In December, the company delivered the first five of the 12 Beechcraft T-6C Texan II training aircraft ordered for the Vietnam Air Defense Force, with full contract delivery expected in mid-2025.

Under a similar foreign military sales contract, Textron Aviation Defense supplied the Tunisian Air Force with its eighth T-6C training aircraft in August 2023.

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