Japan to get new factory for US-2 flying boats by 2029

Japanese aircraft maker ShinMaywa Industries will build a new factory on Kobe Airport Island to assemble the US-2 search-and-rescue flying boat it supplies to Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the company said at its latest earnings briefing.

The firm expects to invest several billion yen in the plant and aims to start operations in 2029.

The city of Kobe had invited companies to bid for an industrial plot in the northwestern part of the artificial island that hosts the city’s airport. ShinMaywa won the right to negotiate for the site, and city records show it proposed leasing about 17,500 square meters (188,000 square feet) of land on a 50-year fixed-term lease.

Besides final assembly of the US-2, ShinMaywa is considering making and assembling other aerospace parts at the new plant, including components made from carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, a light and strong material widely used in modern aircraft.

“By setting up a new manufacturing base, we want to expand the range of orders we take in defense, commercial aircraft and other areas, and grow the business,” said ShinMaywa President Keishi Kunugihara.

The US-2 is a four-engine amphibious aircraft, meaning it can take off and land on both runways and water. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force flies it on long-range search-and-rescue missions over the open ocean, where it can land on the sea to pick up survivors far beyond the reach of most helicopters. The aircraft is designed to operate in rough water, and Japanese crews have flown it in international exercises, as when Japan flew the specialized rescue aircraft in a multinational Pacific drill.

ShinMaywa has also tried to sell the plane abroad. India held lengthy talks about buying a version of the aircraft for its navy, and reports at one point said the Indian Navy would acquire 12 US-2i aircraft, but no contract was signed.

The Japanese government has made the defense industry one of the pillars of its economic growth strategy as it raises military spending, and ShinMaywa wants to grow its defense work alongside that push. The company is best known in Japan for special-purpose vehicles such as garbage trucks and dump trucks, along with parking systems and aircraft parts.

At the same briefing, ShinMaywa forecast consolidated net profit of 10.5 billion yen for the fiscal year ending in March 2027, down 9% from a year earlier, when the company booked one-off extraordinary gains. It expects sales to rise 9% to 312 billion yen and operating profit to grow 7% to 17.5 billion yen. Both figures were raised from the previous forecast, by 2 billion yen and 500 million yen respectively, on strong orders for special-purpose vehicles and higher sales in the aircraft segment.