Kawasaki C-2
ICAO KC2Japan's home-built jet transport, faster and longer-legged than a Hercules. Live Kawasaki C-2 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No Kawasaki C-2 is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Kawasaki
- Role
- Strategic and tactical airlift
- Class
- L2J — Landplane, 2 jet engines
- Crew
- 3
- First flight
- 26 January 2010
- In service
- 2016
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the Kawasaki C-2
Japan builds its own transports, and the C-2 is the current one. It is a jet, which puts it in a class with the KC-390 rather than the turboprop Hercules, and it carries around thirty tonnes considerably faster and further than the C-1 it replaced.
The design shares a great deal with the P-1 maritime patrol aircraft, developed alongside it to spread the cost — an unusual arrangement that produced two very different aircraft from overlapping engineering.
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force is essentially the only operator. Sightings outside Japan are occasional, on long-range deployments and disaster relief flights.
Callsign prefixes
- JASDF
- Japan Air Self-Defense Force
How to recognise it
- —Two very large turbofans on a high wing, with a wide, deep fuselage and a rear ramp.
- —The engines look oversized for the airframe — they are the same class as an airliner's.
- —A tall swept fin and a distinctly bulky forward fuselage.
Common questions
+ Is the C-2 related to the P-1?
They were developed together to share cost and components, though the finished aircraft are quite different — the P-1 has four engines and a maritime patrol fit, the C-2 has two and a cargo hold.
+ How does the C-2 compare with the C-130J?
It is much bigger and much faster, carrying around thirty tonnes at jet speeds against the Hercules' twenty at turboprop speeds. The Hercules is better on short, rough strips.
+ Has the C-2 been exported?
Not successfully so far. Japan has marketed it, including to New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates, but the Japan Air Self-Defense Force remains effectively the only operator.