Beechcraft T-6 Texan II for Japan
December 2, 2024
It has been announced that the T-6 (along with a package of associated support equipment) will replace the Fuji T-7 currently in use by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), which has served as its basic trainer since 2002.
The selection of the turboprop comes after the MoD’s 2025 budget proposal (released in August 2024) identified the need to acquire a new primary trainer and ground training equipment; noting that this was “under source selection”. The budget request totalled a record high 8.54 trillion yen ($59 billion).
One of four proposals put forward to the Japanese Ministry of Defence, the T-6 was offered by Japan’s Kanematsu Corporation, partner of US manufacturer Textron Aviation. This request for proposals was issued in August 2024 and closed in October.
Other bidders were the Subaru Corporation’s Pilatus PC-7MKX and Daihyaku Shoji’s Turkish Aerospace Industries Hurkus. Shintoa Trading also proposed a solution solely based around ground training equipment. Only the PC-7MKX and the T-6 progressed to the second stage of evaluation.
The selection of Textron’s Beechcraft T-6 marks the end of a long association with indigenous Japanese aircraft serving in the basic training role. The currently serving Fuji T-7 was developed to meet a JASDF requirement for a replacement for the T-3, itself descended from the Fuji KM-2
