On Monday 3 November 2025, the annual airshow at Iruma Air Base, Japan, was held. Headlining the airshow was the aerobatic demonstration team of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force: Blue Impulse. The day before the airshow the team flew over from their home base Matsushima to Iruma. In the afternoon the team performed a rehearsal for the airshow demonstration and Recce Reports was there to capture it.

Blue Impulse
Blue Impulse was founded in 1960. The team first flew the F-86 Sabre. In 1980 they switched to the Mitsubishi T-2 and since 1995 the unit operates the Kawasaki T-4. Blue Impulse belongs to 11 Hikotai which is part of Air Training Command of the JASDF. Like the Blue Impulse insignia, the colors of the aircraft are blue and white. The motto of the unit is ‘Challenge for the Creation’.
The team has nine T-4’s at their disposal. The T-4 is a training aircraft and offers space for a crew of two. The length of the aircraft is 13.0 meters and it’s width measures 9.9 meters. The two F3-IHI-30B engines provide enough power for a maximum speed of Mach 0.9 and to perform an impressive aerobatic show. One of the highlights fort the team while flying the T-4 was a performance at the 2002 FIFA World Cup -organized by Korea and Japan- on 4 June 2002 at the opening of the match between Japan versus Belgium. The game ended in a 2-2 draw.

Iruma Air Base
Iruma is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, in the vicinity of Tokio. The local air base is mainly used for transport and special airlift operations. The largest aircraft on base are the impressive Kawasaki C-2 airlifters, with a total length of 43.9 length and wingspan of 44.4 meters. The base was established in 1937 and was renamed Johnson Air Base in 1945 when the United States Air Force arrived. The base was completely returned to the Japanse government in 1978. Nowadays, Iruma Air Base is home to the Air Defense Command Headquarters Flight Group.

We visited the Irma airshow in 2018. Our report can be found here.