(also referred to as VP-3 or Fleet Air Squadron 4) is a unit in the

Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

. It is a part of Fleet Air Wing 4 and is based at

Naval Air Facility Atsugi is a joint Japan-US naval air base located in the cities of Yamato and Ayase in Kanagawa, Japan. It is the largest United States Navy (USN) air base in the Pacific Ocean and once housed the squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5), which dep ...

Kanagawa prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. It is equipped with

Kawasaki P-1 The Kawasaki P-1 (previously P-X, XP-1) is a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft developed and manufactured by Kawasaki Aerospace Company. Unlike many maritime patrol aircraft, which are typically conversions of civilian designs, the P-1 is a purp ...

aircraft.

History

Founding and early history

The squadron was founded on September 1, 1961 at

Kanoya Air Base is a military aerodrome of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force . It is located southwest of the city of Kanoya in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Runway 08R/26L is equipped with ILS. On April 6, 2016 a U-125 airplane operated by the Flight Ch ...

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

with the founding of the

Fleet Air Force In the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), the Fleet Air Force ( ja, 航空集団, kōkū shūdan) is its naval aviation branch, responsible for both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft and headquartered in Naval Air Facility Atsugi. As of 2012, ...

on the same date. It was equipped with nine Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune aircraft. It moved to

Shimofusa Air Base , officially Shimohusa Air Base, is a military aerodrome of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. It is located east of Matsudo in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The base straddles the border between Kashiwa and Kamagaya cities. Operations Shimofu ...

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

on September 1, 1962. In 1971 part of

was returned to Japanese control by the US Navy. The squadron moved to Atsugi on December 25, 1973.

At Atsugi

In 1974 the squadron began to receive P-2J aircraft. In 1984 they started to be replaced by

Lockheed P-3C Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.

exercises. On March 16, 2008 it merged with Air Patrol Squadron 6, which had also been based at Atsugi. In April 2014 two P-3Cs from Atsugi deployed to

RAAF Base Pearce RAAF Base Pearce is the main Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base in Western Australia. The base is located in Bullsbrook, north of Perth. It is used for training by the RAAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force. Pearce is ...

near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

to participate in the international search for the missing

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination ...

to replace two P-3Cs from Air Patrol Squadron 5 that had deployed in March. From March 2015 the squadron started to re-equip with

patrol aircraft. This was completed on August 29, 2017. It was the first operational squadron to convert to the P-1. In November 2016 two P-1s were sent to New Zealand for the 75th Anniversary of the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

. While they were in the country the

2016 Kaikoura earthquake Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film ...

occurred. The aircraft conducted a number of damage assessment flights of the affected areas.

Squadron structure

The squadron is composed of two flights: * 31st flight is equipped with the P-1 * 32nd flight is equipped with the P-1. Until 2017 it was equipped with the P-3C.Thompson, Pau
JMSDF - Order of Battle March 2017
Retrieved September 29, 2017

Aircraft used

* Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune (1961-1977) * Lockheed P-2J (1974-1985) *