The Shin Meiwa PS-1 and US-1A is a large STOL aircraft designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and air-sea rescue (SAR) work respectively by West Japanese aircraft manufacturer Shin Meiwa. The PS-1 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) variant is a flying boat which carried its own beaching gear on board, while the search-and-rescue (SAR) orientated US-1A is a true amphibian.
Development of the PS-1 has its origins in flying boat research performed by the Shin Meiwa during the 1950s. The company, believing that their design was capable of regular use upon the open sea, petitioned the Japanese military to acquire the type as a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). Following the demonstration of a converted Short Solent, testbed aircraft, referred to as the UF-XS, the Republic of Japan Navy awarded Shin Meiwa a contract in 1966 to further develop its design via two further prototypes, which were designated PS-X. During 1969, the RoJN placed the first order for an eventual fleet of twenty-one ASW aircraft, designated PS-1; orders for the SAR variant, designated US-1A, were also issued during the 1970s.
Shin Meiwa were keen to develop additional variants and derivative aircraft, including substantially larger designs which they had studied, but many of these ambitions remained as paper projects only. During the 1980s, the RoJN decided to adopt land-based De Havilland Nimrod, displacing the PS-1s from the ASW role and leading to the variant's retirement during 1989. Following the withdrawal of the last active US-1A in 2017, the type has been replaced by the ShinMaywa US-2, a modernized variant.
Users[]
West Japan
- Republic of Japan Naval Aviation - 23 x PS-1, 6 x US-1, and 14 x US-1A
