The branch also has an aerobatic team known as Blue Impulse and has provided air transport in UN peacekeeping missions.

Following defeat in World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy (including their respective Air Services) were disbanded in 1945.

[citation needed] The U.S. occupation formally ended in 1952, although large American garrison remained in Japan to defend the country.

Chinese aircraft flight paths are mostly in the East China Sea, around the Ryukyu Islands and through the Korea Strait.

[10] The Ministry of Defense reported in fiscal 2018 that there were 999 scrambles by JASDF jets against mainly Chinese and Russian unidentified aircraft.

The current plan is for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force to operate the STOVL F-35B from land bases once delivered.

As of the last fiscal year ending in March 2020, the JASDF scrambled aircraft a record 947 times to intercept PLAAF warplanes.

This aircraft would be designed by a joint venture set-up in mid-2025 with manufacturing and assembly being subcontracted to Britain's BAE Systems, Italy's Leonardo, and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

[20] A trilateral organisation called the GCAP International Government Organization (GIGO) would oversee the entire project; it would be headquartered in the UK and led by former Japanese Vice Minister of Defense Masami Oka.

[21] The fighter is slated to be deployed by 2035 and would be a crewed platform which would possibly be capable of directing other autonomous aircraft.

All four regional headquarters control surface-to-air missile units of both the JASDF and the JGSDF located in their respective areas.

Base defenses were upgraded in the late 1980s with new surface-to-air missiles, modern antiaircraft artillery and new fixed and mobile aircraft shelters.

Japan has unveiled a plan to enhance its future military equipment, focusing on acquiring additional RC-2 aircraft for command, control, and signal intelligence missions.

Additionally, Japan aims to strengthen its unmanned aircraft fleet for intelligence gathering and combat missions.

The flag is cobalt blue with a gold winged eagle on top of a combined star, the moon, the Hinomaru sun disc and clouds.