ABSTRACT
Japan has been producing aircraft since the 1920s. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the largest Japanese aircraft producer, started in 1930 with serial production. The Aircraft Manufacturing Enterprise Law and the establishment of the Self-Defense Forces in 1954 only strengthened this dependence. A civilian aircraft industry in Japan at that time would have been doomed from the beginning because modern aircraft technology was lacking, there were no markets and the United States (US) was in all respects miles ahead. The aircraft industry can be divided into airframe and engine producers and a third group of parts and component suppliers. Not only is the Japanese aircraft industry profiting from ongoing licensed production and coproduction of US aircraft, but it is at the same time increasing its own Research and development efforts. Japan's dependence on foreign technology is particularly conspicuous in the case of jet engines and helicopters. Domestic development and production would give Japan's aircraft industry a tremendous boost.
