Japan could replace E-2C with 737 AEW&C

In response to China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that includes the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, the Japanese and U.S. governments have confirmed that the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces will cooperate to strengthen warning and surveillance activities over the sea.
To block China’s move to change the status quo by force, which Japan and the United States consider to be an unacceptable unilateral action, the SDF plans to set up a new permanent unit of the Air-Self Defense Force’s early-warning E-2C aircraft at Naha Base in the prefecture, and expand deployment of the Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance drone.
The SDF will launch “the second airborne warning and surveillance unit” at Naha Base in fiscal 2014, and will use some of the E-2C aircraft deployed at the ASDF’s Misawa Base.
With these plans in mind, the Defense Ministry plans to include its policy to introduce a successor aircraft to the E-2C in fiscal 2015.
The successor aircraft to the E-2C could be a Boeing E-737 AEW&C.
E-2C aircraft cannot be refueled in the air and can conduct warning and surveillance activities around the Senkaku Islands for only about four hours. The introduction of E-737s would make it possible for the SDF to conduct longer missions.
U.S. forces currently deploy the Global Hawk in Guam, which also conducts warning and surveillance activities around Japan. U.S.
The ASDF also intends to adopt the Global Hawk in fiscal 2015.
japan-news