The Japanese Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that first two new-generation patrol jets, the P- 1 aircraft, will be deployed to the Atsugi Air Base of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) in Kanagawa Prefecture in late March, local media reported.

The ministry said the development of the P-1 jet has completed and it hoped the domestically developed plane that to replace P-3C patrol planes could strengthen the country's surveillance capabilities at sea, according to Japan's Kyodo News Agency.

The ministry planned to replace MSDF's 80 P-3C aircrafts with about 70 P-1s, which could fly 1.3 times faster than the former, Kyodo quoted officials as saying.

A total of seven the newly designed jets, which are manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. at its plant in Gifu Prefecture at a cost of around 20 billion yen (about 210 million US dollars) each, will be deployed to the air base by March, 2014.

The P-1 development started in 2001 and planed to finish in March 2012. The process was delayed for one year due to cracks that found in its wings and bodies.