Kanji Ishimaru, vice-president of ShinMaywa is talking at the event on US-2 sea plane in April 2019.

The last US-1A was withdrawn after performing its final flight in December 2017 following the introduction of the US-2. They are operated by the 31 st Fleet Air Wing at Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Atsugi Air Station in Kanagawa Prefecture. Prototypes 1 and 2 were delivered to the then-Japan Defense Agency (since 2007, the Ministry of Defense) in March and December 2004 respectively.ДЄfter the JDA, along with the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF), conducted their own engineering and service tests, the US-1A Kai was officially renamed the US-2 STOL Search and Rescue Amphibian, and in March 2007, the first of an expected fourteen in total aircraft were delivered.Д¬urrently, there are seven in use by the MSDF to meet a variety of requirements. 1 was held in April 2003 at ShinMaywaвЂ™s Konan production factory in Kobe (which miraculously survived the bombing during World War II), and the first test flight was conducted in December that year. The US-2 had to include certain modifications, according to the contract: a pressurized hull, better on-board patient transfer facilities, improved search and rescue capabilities at sea, to name just a few.ДЄfter several years, a rollout ceremony for Prototype No. Indeed, some 1,500 Japanese manufacturers alone, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., NIPPI Corporation, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., were involved in the development. It took a long time to get to that point, but ShinMaywa kept at it, producing the US-1A and then the US-2 with the help of many domestic and foreign companies. It is, simply put, fast, strong, and agile. Further, it requires only a fraction of the distance necessary to take off compared to other aircraft. Its four Rolls-Royce AE 2100J turboprop engines allow it not only to have a maximum take-off weight many tons more than its closest competitor, but also to fly double the distance of its other competitors, and at higher altitudes. ShinMaywaвЂ™s US-2, like its predecessor US-1A, is able to land in water with a wave height of 3 meters, the only one in the world to be able to do so. Powerful engines were required for the latter, and a вЂњspray suppressorвЂќ was invented for dealing with the rough seas. It also needed a high-lift device, enabling short takeoff and landing (STOL). Namely, the plane had to have good seaworthiness and be able to take off and land in rough seas. With the end of the occupation, in 1952, the ban was lifted and KawanishiвЂ™s successor, ShinMeiwa (established in 1949 and renamed ShinMaywa in 1992), resumed its aircraft business the following year.ДЄlthough there were other amphibian aircraft companies around the world, ShinMaywa once again became the worldвЂ™s best, due to its singular focus on resolving the problems that plagued seaplanes of all companies. In fact, Japanese forces were so good at using them and the technicians so good with designing them that the Allies banned Japan from building aircraft after the war. These aircraft were ingeniously used during the war. There were dozens of models and many built, including the Kawanishi H8K вЂњflying boat,вЂќ which the Allies named вЂњEmily.вЂќ Most readers have seen a picture of a seaplane, and very likely a picture of the earlier US-1A or current US-2.Д®arly seaplanes and floatplanes, such as those used before and during World War II, were made by ShinMaywaвЂ™s early predecessor, Kawanishi Aircraft Company. There was not enough money to design and make an entirely new aircraft, however, so ShinMaywa agreed to try an upgraded and modernized version of its amphibian plane. The US-1A Kai (with Kai meaning вЂњimprovedвЂќ) was intended to be a greatly modified version of the US-1A seaplane, built by the same company and introduced in the early 1970s as an aircraft capable of both anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and search and rescue (SAR).Д«y the early 1990s, the US-1A fleet was showing its age and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) sought funding for a replacement.

The first US-2 sea plane for JMSDF and the ShinMaywaвЂ™s sub project manager Kenichiro Mizoguchi in February 2009.

Japanese ww2 pilot lands with half wing