Major actors in Japanese aerospace
Japanese aerospace companies build mostly under license, jointly develop, or manufacture components (fuselage, engines, etc.) in collaboration with leading aerospace manufacturers worldwide. Few aircraft have been domestically designed and manufactured from scratch. Among Japan’s top engineering companies are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, IHI Corporation, and Subaru, whose predecessors have been the backbone of the domestic industry since its beginnings.The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the most prominent actor in the public sector. The nation’s government agency for aerospace research and development was formed in 2003, merging the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). JAXA pursues multiple missions such as gathering meteorological data, providing satellite communications, conducting and coordinating research, usually with a budget below 200 billion yen.
A short history of aerospace in Japan
The origins of the aircraft industry date back to pre-WWII Japan, but it boomed in the 1930s when the former Empire developed military aircraft for its wars in East Asia and the Pacific. After Japan’s defeat, the country was deprived of its aircraft and banned from aircraft manufacturing and research until 1952. Despite this setback, the industry recovered successively with the maintenance and repair of U.S. aircraft used in the Korean War. Today, aircraft maintenance has become a side business, a crucial one yet.By the mid-1960s, Japan had again developed entire aircraft. Licensed manufacturing of airframes and engines fostered high-tech expertise, helping the country extend to spacecraft. In 1970, Japan became the fourth nation to launch an artificial satellite in orbit. Over time, Japanese research has borne fruits such as launch vehicles, transfer vehicles, satellites, even the Kibo Module on the International Space Station (ISS) completed in 2009.
The latest launch by JAXA was the second Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration in November 2021, featuring nine satellites, one of them developed by Kawasaki to test techniques for space debris removal. Since private and public operations in space multiply, maintaining order will become particularly important.
