AB Air Festival 2009. The scheme celebrates 100,000 h of safe flight by the AEW E-2C. FYI, the bat visible on the forward fuselage is reproduced on the blue vertical stab but is obscured by the folded wing. Note she also still carries her previous USN BuNo 161788 on the empennage.

Photographed at the Komaki AB Air Festival 2009. The scheme celebrates 100,000 h of safe flight by the AEW E-2C. FYI, the bat visible on the forward fuselage is reproduced on the blue vertical stab but is obscured by the folded wing.

Japan has operated 13 Hawkeyes from Misawa AB, beginning in 1987. In November 2014, the Japanese government decided to procure E-2Ds instead of Boeing 737 AEW aircraft. These will have new avionics, improved engines, glass cockpit and potential for air-to-air refuelling