The U-36A, one of the JMSDF’s most secretive assets, conducted its last flight at Iwakuni Air Base and retired quietly on Mar. 10, 2025, after 37 years of service.
The U-36A, one of the JMSDF’s (Japan Maritime Self Defense Force) most secretive assets, conducted its last flight and retired quietly on Mar. 10, 2025. Its last flight, which was flown by the sixth and last U-36A produced, serialled 9206, was followed by a retirement ceremony at Iwakuni Air Base, which is shared with the USMC (U.S. Marine Corps), who refer to it as MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Iwakuni.
The pilot of the last flight, Lieutenant Commander 3rd Class Satoshi Kayashima, said that “during the last sortie a sense of loneliness overcame me, but we were blessed with blue skies and I am very honored to have flown the last U-36 sortie.” The crew who flew the last flight was welcomed by a salute with a water cannon after the flight, as is customary for fini-flights.
Furthermore, the commander of the 31st Air Wing, Rear Admiral Ichiro Ishikawa, said that he “originally wanted to have all active duty crews and alumni attend the ceremony, but it is extremely regrettable that we were not able to do so,” referring to the four crew members lost in a crash on May. 21, 2003.
There is no designated replacement for the U-36 yet, but it is expected that the unique role it played will be filled by unmanned assets in future. This year marks its 37th year in service since it first started service back in 1987. The U-36 attended its last public event on Mar. 3, 2025, at the Komaki Air Base’s open fest.
This month represents a time of drastic changes for military aviation in Japan. In fact, alongside the U-36, the USMC’s F/A-18C/D Hornets will also leave the base and be replaced by F-35Bs, while the JASDF (Japan Air Self Defence Force) also prepares to retire its C-1 transport aircraft and YS-11EA ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) aircraft in the coming weeks. The JASDF prepared a stunning phoenix livery for the C-1, while their YS-11EA and the JMSDF’s U-36A will retire behind the curtains without much public acknowledgement.
The U-36A – “Cupid”
The U-36 played a very special role in the JMSDF: it acted as a sort of ‘aggressor’ for the service’s ships, as it was designed to simulate ASMs (Anti-Ship Missiles) and was used for training against enemy missiles. Based on the civilian Gates Learjet 36A and modified by Shinmaywa to perform its role, the U-36A became the first jet aircraft in the JMSDF. It replaced the UP-2A in JMSDF service.
The U-36 simulated ASMs by flying very low over the sea surface to effectively simulate potential attacks, and to do so, the traditional fuel pods on the wings of the Learjet are replaced with a camera pod on the right wing and an ASM seeker on the left (both of which are detachable and interchangeable) so that the ships can test their ECM (Electronic Counter Measure) systems against it. It also carried AN/ALE-43 chaff pods and HLQ-2-T ECM mods from time to time, as well as towed targets for target practice.
Interestingly the seeker pods on the wing can be changed, and there are two types: an Active Radar Homing seeker and an Infrared seeker. However, there are instances where the camera pod is removed entirely, and the plane carries both types of seekers in the same sortie. When flying in this configuration, it is referred to as a Hybrid.
The official designation for the Infrared seeker pod is “訓練用IRミサイルシーカ・シミュレーターHWQ-3-T” which translates to “Practice IR (InfraRed) Missile Seeker / Simulator HWQ-3-T”, while the Active Radar Homing seeker is designated “訓練用ミサイルシーカシミュレーターHWQ-2-T”, which translates to “Practice Missile Seeker Simulator HWQ-2-T.” A point of interest is that the HWQ-2-T is a Missile Seeker Simulator, while the HWQ-3-T is a Missile Seeker / Simulator.
As one of the most secretive assets in the fleet, the U-36’s details are not widely known. The JMSDF has operated a total of six airframes, 9201 through 9206, two of which (9202 and 9203) perished in accidents. All of the airframes were assigned to the 812th Hikotai, 81st Kokutai under 31st Kokugun (Fleet Air Wing 31) at MCAS/JMSDF Iwakuni, and operated under the iconic callsign ‘Cupid’.
