Carrier and land-based bombing, fighter and anti-shipping operations; in 1945 suicide attacks from Kyushu bases such as Kanoya.

The Imperial Navy’s air arm flew its first combat sorties in September 1914, when Wakamiya’s seaplanes bombed German positions at Tsingtao. The Kanoya Air Group, formed on 1 April 1936 with Mitsubishi G3M bombers, flew its first combat missions over China in August 1937 and re-equipped with the G4M in September 1941. In the last months of the Pacific War Kanoya became the main base for the navy’s kamikaze operations against the American fleet off Okinawa. The JMSDF is a new service founded in 1954 and does not claim these campaigns as its own; they appear here because its air arm took over Kanoya, Tateyama, Ōmura, Atsugi and Iwakuni, and because the Kanoya museum keeps the record.

Resultado Defeat and dissolution in 1945; the airfields passed to the US forces and later, in part, to the JMSDF.

Lineage between the Imperial Navy and the JMSDF is a matter of interpretation; the JMSDF was created as a new organisation. Figures for the Imperial Navy’s aircraft and aircrew losses differ widely between sources and are left out.

Voando para

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (predecessor, not formal lineage)

Onde

Tsingtao, China, the Pacific and Japan

Ao lado de

Sem força aérea aliada

Contra

Germany (1914), China, United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Australia

Aeronave

G3M, G4M, A6M Zero, B5N, H8K

Missões

Not counted here; the war record is covered on the JASDF page.

Perdas

Japanese Wikipedia counts 828 special-attack airmen who sortied from Kanoya in the Okinawa campaign. Service-wide totals are not given here.

Fontes

Wikipédia · Wikipédia · Japanese Wikipedia · MiGFlug Order of Battle

Shadowed two suspected North Korean spy ships and dropped warning bombs to stop them.

On 23 March 1999 two boats bearing Japanese fishing-boat names were spotted in Japanese waters off the Noto Peninsula and identified as suspected North Korean spy ships. The Japan Coast Guard and the destroyers Haruna, Myōkō and Abukuma pursued them through the night. At 00:50 on 24 March the Director General of the Defense Agency ordered a maritime security operation under Article 82 of the Self-Defense Forces Law, the first in the JMSDF’s history. Between 03:20 and 05:41 three P-3Cs from Hachinohe dropped 12 anti-submarine bombs, four each, in three passes as warnings. The ships did not stop. Japanese Wikipedia records that the incident led to changes in the JMSDF and to new Coast Guard powers.

Resultado Both vessels escaped across the air defence identification zone and were back in Chongjin by the morning of 25 March.

North Korea’s position on the incident was not found in the sources reached. Japanese Wikipedia’s timings for the two vessels crossing the identification zone appear inconsistent with the bombing times and are summarised rather than quoted.

Voando para

JMSDF Fleet Air Force (2nd Air Wing, Hachinohe) and destroyers, with the Japan Coast Guard

Onde

Sea of Japan off the Noto Peninsula

Ao lado de

Japan Coast Guard

Contra

Two suspected North Korean spy ships

Aeronave

P-3C

Missões

3Three P-3Cs from Hachinohe dropped bombs between 03:20 and 05:41 on 24 March 1999.

Perdas

0 aeronaves · 0 mortosNone. The bombs were aimed to raise walls of water ahead of the ships, not to hit them.

Fontes

Japanese Wikipedia · Wikipédia

Maritime patrol flights to find pirate skiffs and warn shipping, alongside the multinational counter-piracy forces.

Two P-3Cs were dispatched to Djibouti on 28 May 2009 and began patrols on 11 June, at first from the US Navy’s Camp Lemonnier. In March 2011 Japan opened its own base beside Djibouti’s airport, built for about ¥4.7 billion on 12 hectares and manned by about 180 people on four-month rotations. Two P-1s were sent in 2015 for trials in tropical and desert conditions. Piracy off Somalia fell sharply after 2012, but the base has remained, and has supported evacuations from the region.

Resultado Continuing; it gave Japan its first long-term overseas base since 1945.

The number of aircraft and personnel deployed has changed over time; current figures were not confirmed from an official source.

Voando para

JMSDF Fleet Air Force (rotating patrol detachments)

Onde

Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean

Ao lado de

Combined Maritime Forces, European Union Naval Force and Djibouti

Contra

Somali pirates

Aeronave

P-3C, P-1

Missões

Flight totals were not found in an official source reached for this dataset.

Perdas

0 aeronavesNo combat losses reported.

Fontes

Wikipédia · Japanese Wikipedia

Daily patrol flights to track foreign warships and submarines near Japan.

Patrol aircraft have watched the straits around Japan since the 1950s, first for Soviet submarines and now mainly for Chinese and Russian ships. Two encounters became diplomatic incidents. On 20 December 2018 Japan’s Defense Ministry said the South Korean destroyer Gwanggaeto the Great had directed its STIR-180 fire-control radar at a P-1 of the 4th Air Wing several times; South Korea said only its MW08 search radar was used, for a rescue, and accused the P-1 of a threatening low pass at about 500 m and 150 m altitude. Both sides released videos; on 2 June 2024 their defence ministers agreed measures to prevent a recurrence without settling the facts. In 2025 the Ministry of Defense reported an unusual close approach by a Chinese fighter to a JSDF aircraft in June and by a Chinese fighter-bomber in July; the white paper digest does not name the Japanese aircraft type.

Resultado Continuando.

South Korea and Japan still give different accounts of 20 December 2018. Media identification of the 2025 incidents as involving JMSDF P-3Cs was not confirmed from an official page and is left out.

Voando para

JMSDF Fleet Air Force

Onde

Sea of Japan, East China Sea and the Pacific approaches

Ao lado de

Estados Unidos

Aeronave

P2V-7, P-2J, P-3C, P-1, EP-3, OP-3C

Perdas

0 aeronaves · 0 mortosNo losses to hostile action.

Fontes

Wikipédia · Ministry of Defense · Japanese Wikipedia