The F-4EJ first entered service with the JASDF in August of 1972. In the JASDF, six interceptor squadrons (hikotai) have operated the F-4EJ. These were the 301st, 302nd, 303rd, 304th, 305th, and 306th. The RF-4EJ was operated by the 501st Hikotai, replacing that unit's RF-86F Sabres.
Throughout the 1980s, the force of 140 F-4EJs gradually dwindled by attrition and reached 125 in 1992. Conversions to the F-15J began in the late 1980s, and most surviving JASDF F-4EJs have been upgraded to F-4EJ Kai standards.
The F-4EJ Kai is an upgraded version of the Japanese-built F-4EJ, intended to bring the F-4EJ up to standards appropriate for the 1990s. The first F-4EJ Kai entered service with 306 Hikotai in November of 1989. It had originally been planned to upgrade 110 of the 125 surviving F-4EJs to Kai standards, but this was later changed to only 96.
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