A car badge on a helicopter

Most people know Subaru for rally cars and estate wagons, but the company’s roots are in aircraft. It descends from Nakajima, one of Imperial Japan’s two great aircraft makers, broken up by the Allied occupation after 1945. Five of the pieces came together in 1953 as Fuji Heavy Industries, which built trainers, helicopters and airliner parts alongside its cars. On 1 April 2017 the whole group took the name of its car brand, and the Subaru name went onto military aircraft for the first time.

Bell’s partner in Japan

The most visible result is the Subaru Bell UH-2. Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Force needed a replacement for its UH-1J Hueys, themselves built by Fuji, and chose a joint Subaru and Bell proposal, then called UH-X, based on the Bell 412EPI. 150 are on order, and a civil version, the Subaru Bell 412EPX, is sold worldwide by Bell. A variant was also proposed for the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force’s new patrol helicopter requirement. Subaru has also built the T-7 primary trainer for the Air Self-Defence Force.

Inside Boeing’s wing box

The aerospace division’s civil work is less visible but just as important. Subaru builds the centre wing section of the Boeing 777 and 787, the structural heart of each aircraft where the wings join the fuselage, and in 2014 was one of five major Japanese firms contracted for the 777X. It supplies parts for other Boeing types, makes target drones and unmanned aircraft for the Japanese government, and is responsible for maintenance of the V-22 Osprey in Japan.