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The Japanese Air Force One and Japanese Air Force Two are the radio callsigns of the two Boeing 747 aircraft used by the government of Japan for overseas travel by the Emperor, Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials. Each aircraft has a capacity of 140 passengers and can be used for emergency evacuations of Japanese citizens and overseas deployment of Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel.〔http://www.mod.go.jp/j/yosan/genkiwaku/pdf/2011/007.pdf〕 The Japanese Air Force One/Two is operated by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The aircraft are officially referred to as . They have the radio callsigns ''Japanese Air Force One'' and ''Japanese Air Force Two'' when operating on official business, and ''Cygnus One'' and ''Cygnus Two'' when operating outside of official business (e.g., on training flights).〔(政府専用機にそもそも「専用機材」は必要なのか？ ), ''Newsweek Japan'', Feb 25, 2011.〕 The aircraft always fly together on government missions, with one serving as the primary transport and the other serving as a backup with maintenance personnel on board.〔(The Government Aircraft ) - the "Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet" website 〕 The aircraft use the same General Electric CF6-80C2 turbofan engines fitted to the Boeing VC-25 aircraft used by the USAF as executive transports.〔(B-747 ) - the JASDF official website 〕 The aircraft will be replaced by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in fiscal year 2019, with maintenance outsourced to All Nippon Airways. ==History== During the early postwar era, the Japanese government generally used the state-chartered international airline, Japan Airlines, for official trips overseas. The Japanese government began investigating the possibility of purchasing dedicated government transport aircraft during the 1970s. Much of the impetus came from problems in using JAL: labor unions were unwilling to put aircrews at risk in missions to evacuate Japanese citizens from overseas, and often objected to transporting members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces overseas for political reasons. The privatization of JAL in the mid-1980s hastened the process. The Cabinet of Japan decided to purchase two Boeing 747-400 aircraft in 1987 in order to have aircraft with worldwide operating range.〔 Another goal of the 36 billion yen purchase was to counterbalance the growing trade deficit between Japan and the US.〔 Both aircraft were delivered in the fall of 1991 (though one source has the second delivery as being in April 1992〔(20-1101 Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) Boeing 747-47C (Planespotters.net) )〕). Kiichi Miyazawa was the first prime minister to use the 747 when he visited the US in 1993; the Emperor used the aircraft for the first time later that year. German chancellor Gerhard Schröder joined Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi aboard the aircraft in 2002 in order to attend the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in Yokohama, to which Germany advanced while Schröder was attending a G8 summit in Canada. The operation, hastily improvised due to difficulties in flying the German government's Airbus A310 aircraft from Canada to Japan, was called "hitchhiking diplomacy" in the Japanese media. This was the first time a foreign head of government had flown on the aircraft.〔http://www.weblio.jp/content/政府専用機〕 The aircraft were used to transport relief workers to the area of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand. Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara offered use of the aircraft to evacuate Japanese nationals on the return flight, but was forced to withdraw this offer when the foreign ministry pointed out that there was not enough space for all of them on board.〔(政府専用機に被災者家族乗れず「希望募っておきながら」 ), ''Asahi Shimbun'', Feb 24, 2011〕 In January 2011, Prime Minister Naoto Kan was criticized for using the aircraft for a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos while 500 Japanese nationals were stranded in the midst of civil unrest in Cairo. The ''Weekly Asahi'' tabloid newspaper stated that the Foreign Ministry had requested use of the aircraft for evacuation purposes but that Kan had rejected the request citing the priority of the Davos mission. Kan denied that such a discussion had taken place, and the Foreign Ministry stated that the aircraft was not used because of the difficulty of getting landing and transit permits from various governments on short notice.〔http://www.j-cast.com/2011/02/25089076.html〕 Kan later considered using the aircraft for a trip to Germany to watch the Japanese team play in the finals of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, but advisors dissuaded him from doing so due to the high cost and possibility of public outcry in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.〔(呆れた菅の「なでしこ観戦」計画…政府専用機で弾丸ツアー ), ZAKZAK, Jul 16, 2011.〕 The Democratic Party of Japan government requested public comments about the Japanese government budget in 2011, and many responses criticized the aircraft as wasteful, suggesting that the government should switch back to charters of private aircraft as required; however, following a hostage crisis in Algeria in 2013, the Shinzo Abe government determined that the aircraft should be maintained for national security purposes. As of August 2013, the aircraft had completed 269 missions.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Japanese Air Force One」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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