JASDF receives first two Cessna Citation Latitude aircraft for flight inspection missions

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has received the first two of three Cessna Citation Latitude aircraft – configured for flight inspection missions – ordered from Textron Aviation.

The US-based company announced in a 21 April statement that the aircraft had recently been delivered to the Kanematsu Corporation, but will be owned and operated by the JASDF “to ensure the integrity of instrument approaches and airway procedures that constitute the national airspace of Japan”.

Delivery of the third aircraft is scheduled for early 2021.

Textron Aviation announced on 21 April that it has delivered the first two of the three Cessna Citation Latitude aircraft on order for the JASDF. The third platform is expected to be handed over in early 2021. (Textron Aviation)

All three platforms, each of which has a stated range of 2,700 n miles (5,000 km) carrying four passengers, will be operated by the Flight Check Squadron: a JASDF unit based at Iruma Air Base in Saitama Prefecture north of Tokyo.

Fitted with UNIFIS 3000 Flight Inspection System equipment from the Norwegian Special Mission (NSM) company, “the aircraft will provide flight inspection missions through the periodic evaluation of navigational aids, such as flight procedures and electronic signals, to ensure they are safe and accurate”, said Textron Aviation.

The delivery of the first two platforms comes after the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced in December 2016 that it had selected the Citation Latitude (Model 680A) to replace two JASDF YS-11FC turboprops and a U-125 aircraft that had crashed near the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kanoya Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture in April 2016.