Boeing E-767

The Boeing E-767 is an Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft designed in response to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's requirements, essentially the Boeing E-3 Sentry's surveillance radar and air control system installed on a Boeing 767-200. Japan's interest began after a Soviet pilot defected to Hakodate in a MiG-25 in 1976, when Japanese radar lost track of the aircraft at low altitude. The E-3 was not available because of US Air Force needs and Boeing 707-based E-3 production ended in 1991, so in 1992 Boeing proposed a 767-based AWACS and Japan agreed to buy two aircraft in fiscal year 1993 and two more in 1994. Procurement was split into two stages: an unmodified 767 bought through the trading company Itochu, then modification by US and Japanese contractors under Foreign Military Sales rules. The base airframe is a 767-200ER, Boeing designation 767-27C.