Japanese Air Force One

Japanese Air Force One and Japanese Air Force Two are the radio callsigns of the two Boeing 747 aircraft used by the government of Japan for special transport missions, including overseas travel by the Emperor, Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials, as well as emergency evacuations of Japanese citizens and overseas deployment of Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel.

The aircraft are officially referred to as nihongo|dedicated Japanese government aircraft|日本国政府専用機|Nippon-koku seifu sen'yōki and have the callsigns Cygnus One and Cygnus Two when operating outside of official business (e.g., on training flights).

History

During the early postwar era, the Japanese government generally used the state-chartered international airline, Japan Airlines, for official trips overseas.The Japanese government began investigating the possibility of purchasing dedicated government transport aircraft during the 1970s. Much of the impetus came from problems in using JAL: labor unions were unwilling to put aircrews at risk in missions to evacuate Japanese citizens from overseas, and often objected to transporting members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces overseas for political reasons. The privatization of JAL in the mid-1980s hastened the process.

The Cabinet of Japan decided to purchase two Boeing 747-400 aircraft in 1987 in order to have aircraft with worldwide operating range. The government also hoped that purchasing large American aircraft for this purpose would help ease trade deficit concerns then arising between Japan and the US.

Both aircraft were delivered in the fall of 1991. Kiichi Miyazawa was the first prime minister to use the 747 when he visited the US in 1993; the Emperor used the aircraft for the first time later that year.

German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi aboard the aircraft in 2002 in order to attend the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in Yokohama, to which Germany advanced while Schroeder was attending a G8 summit in Canada. The operation, hastily improvised due to difficulties in flying the German government's Airbus A310 aircraft from Canada to Japan, was called "hitchhiking diplomacy" in the Japanese media.

Operation

The aircraft are painted with red and gold stripes along the fuselage and red sun insignia on the tail and wings.

Although the aircraft were initially operated by the Prime Minister's Office as civil aircraft, they were transferred to Japan Defense Agency control in April 1992 and re-registered as defense aircraft. They are currently operated by the nihongo|701st Special Air Transport Squadron|特別航空輸送隊第701飛行隊|Tokubetsu Kōkū Yusō Dai-nana-hyaku-ichi Hikōtai of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and are based at Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido. JAL provides ground handling at Tokyo International Airport on a contract basis.

The aircraft contains dedicated offices for use by the Prime Minister (in the front-most section of the lower level) and Chief Cabinet Secretary, which may be repurposed for use by the Imperial family or other VIPs. The aircraft also contains a conference room and a seating area for reporters, both of which may be used as passenger seating on evacuation missions. The upper deck is used for communications and crew rest.

For shorter domestic VIP flights, the government also uses Eurocopter Super Puma helicopters and Gulfstream IV business jets.

Unlike the American Air Force One, the Japanese government aircraft may only be used for government business, and cannot be used for personal travel by the Imperial family or the Prime Minister.

ee also

*Air transports of heads of state and government

External links

* [http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/vt2/main/07/photo-senyoki01.html The Government Aircraft] - the "Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet" website en
* [http://www.mod.go.jp/asdf/equipment/04_b747.html B-747] - the JASDF official website Ja