Mitsui Bussan Aerospace Co., Ltd. Mitsui Bussan Aerospace Co., Ltd.

Corporate History

April 1982
Founded as “Bussan Aerospace Co., Ltd.” as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., dedicated to parts sales of Bell Helicopters.
May 1988
Renamed to Mitsui Bussan Aerospace Co., Ltd. (“MBA”).
August 1988
Acquired the distributorship rights for FLIR Systems (currently, Teledyne FLIR) products and commenced sales of infrared night vision cameras.
April 1991
Began selling Bell helicopters (succeeded from Mitsui & Co., Ltd.).
March 1992
Mitsui Bussan Aerospace Corp. (MAC) founded in Dallas, Texas, USA, as a wholly owned subsidiary of MBA.
April 1998
Succeeded representative right and distributorship of Lockheed Martin and Howmet from Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and started defence and aircraft engine businesses.
October 2001
Entered into partnership with Eurockot Launch Services GmbH. (Later executed 3 successful satellites launches from Russia.)
May 2005
Started sales of the new medium-sized helicopter AB139 developed by Bell Agusta Aerospace. The first order placed by Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
August 2005
Acquired the distributorship rights of ioimage Ltd (currently, Teledyne FLIR LLC), an Israeli company later acquired by FLIR, and commenced selling security products.
September 2006
Received the first order of the medium-sized AgustaWestland “AW139” helicopter from the Japan Coast Guard.
May 2008
Founded the FLIR Service Center as a repair facility for infrared night vision cameras of the FLIR Systems (currently, Teledyne FLIR LLC).
July-October 2008
Received 3 orders for the “AW139” helicopter from All Nippon Helicopters and Kansai Television.
March 2013
Started sales of the new light-medium-sized AgustaWestland helicopter “AW169”.
July 2013
Received the first order for the “AW169” helicopter from The Asahi Shimbun Company.
August 2013
Acquired the distributorship rights for Falcon Jet Aircraft from Dassault Aviation.
December 2013
Terminated the distributor agreement with Bell Helicopters in order to concentrate on the exclusive relationship with AgustaWestland for helicopter sales.
March 2015
Received the first order for 2 Falcon 2000LXS aircraft from the Japan Coast Guard.
May 2017
Received the first order for the new large-medium-sized AgustaWestland “AW189” helicopter from the Tokyo Fire Department.
December 2017
AgustaWestland renamed to “Leonardo”, after being temporarily renamed to “Finmeccanica” in January 2016.
June 2018
Moved the office from Shiba-koen, Minato Ward to Marunouchi, Chiyoda Ward, the current address.
July 2019
Succeeded from Mitsui & Co., Ltd., the orbital deployment service business of micro satellites from the Japanese Experiment Module “KIBO” of the International Space Station (ISS).
April 2020
Succeeded from Mitsui & Co., Ltd., the orbital deployment service business of micro satellites from the Japanese Experiment Module “KIBO” of the International Space Station (ISS).
February 2021
Entered into the Exclusive Agency Agreement with Spaceflight, Inc., (Mitsui & Co. Ltd’s 50% subsidiary) for satellite rideshare launch businesses.
March 2021
The orbital deployment of the first 2 micro satellites from the Japanese Experiment Module “KIBO” succeeded.
June 2021
Entered into the MOU with Terra Drone Corporation and Mitsui & Co., Ltd for creating “Platform Business towards realization of a Society with Flying Vehicles”.
September 2021
Entered into the Strategic Partnership Agreement with Axiom Space, Inc. and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., for creating demand of Low Earth Orbit utilization and for establishing a post International Space Station strategy.