diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedNameRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedNameRule.java
index 5b6d35e4e1..ad12b080e8 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedNameRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedNameRule.java
@@ -204,9 +204,10 @@ public class UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedNameRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
         String name = node.getImage();
         boolean isJavaLang = name != null && name.startsWith("java.lang.");
 
-        if (isJavaLang && node.getType() != null) {
+        if (isJavaLang && node.getType() != null && node.getType().getPackage() != null) {
             // valid would be ProcessBuilder.Redirect.PIPE but not java.lang.ProcessBuilder.Redirect.PIPE
-            String packageName = node.getType().getPackage().getName();
+            String packageName = node.getType().getPackage() // package might be null, if type is an array type...
+                    .getName();
             return "java.lang".equals(packageName);
         } else if (isJavaLang) {
             // only java.lang.* is implicitly imported, but not e.g. java.lang.reflection.*
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/xml/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedName.xml b/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/xml/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedName.xml
index 7df5ae73fe..3bc1edd25f 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/xml/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedName.xml
+++ b/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/codestyle/xml/UnnecessaryFullyQualifiedName.xml
@@ -469,6 +469,22 @@ public class ThreadStuff {
     public Thread stuff() {
         return new Thread(java.lang.Thread.currentThread());
     }
+}
+        ]]></code>
+    </test-code>
+
+    <test-code>
+        <description>Nullpointer in isJavaLangImplicit for java.lang.String[] arrays</description>
+        <expected-problems>1</expected-problems>
+        <expected-linenumbers>6</expected-linenumbers>
+        <code><![CDATA[
+public class TestArrayType {
+    String[] someArray = new String[0];
+
+    public void foo() {
+        boolean b1 = someArray instanceof String[];
+        boolean b2 = someArray instanceof java.lang.String[]; // unnecessary FQN
+    }
 }
         ]]></code>
     </test-code>