Subaru secures deal to build six UH-X helicopters for JGSDF

The Japan Ministry of Defense’s (MoD’s) Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) has awarded Subaru Corporation contracts worth a combined total of JPY14.3 billion (USD131.6 million) for the production and delivery of six UH-X multirole medium helicopters to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).

Documents obtained by Janes on 3 June show that two contracts were signed on 19 March, with delivery of the recently developed rotorcraft expected to be completed by January 2023.

After conducting the helicopter’s maiden flight in December 2018 and carrying out a series of subsequent flight tests, Subaru handed over a UH-X prototype to the Japanese MoD at the company’s Utsunomiya plant in Tochigi Prefecture in February of the following year.

The company announced at the time that it would also prepare to start mass-producing the multirole platform, which is based on the Subaru Bell 412EPX commercial helicopter.

The MoD plans to replace the JGSDF’s fleet of 127 UH-1Js with about 150 UH-Xs over the next two decades, 34 of which will be acquired at the price of about JPY1.8 billion each under the country’s 2019–23 Mid-Term Defence Program (MTDP), which was approved in December 2018.