#Drone

Japan's Rangle Pro hovers hands-free in pipes and sewers where GPS dies. A racing team turned its autonomous-control tech into an inspection drone taking on DJI.

Loss-making mobile-game studio KLab has signed an MOU to bring an undisclosed partner's counter-drone system to the UAE. Inside a game company's pivot, UAE royal money, and Japan's neutral-broker play.

First Rheinmetall, then Anduril: in a single month, foreign arms makers signaled they want to build in Japan. We map the three routes they are taking, the April export-rule change that opened the door, and the identity shift Japan is now choosing.

Japan's Terra Drone has taken controlling stakes in WinnyLab and Amazing Drones, two Ukrainian firms whose interceptor drones have downed Shahed attack drones in combat. Here's why moving from investor to owner matters, and how the cheap, 3D-printed interceptors are rewriting the cost of air defense.

αGEL is the Japanese gel that keeps a raw egg intact after an 18-meter drop. The same material hides in mechanical pencils, G-SHOCK watches and ASICS shoes, and now damps drone vibration.

Japan's Defense Ministry has quietly hired Space Compass to study a homegrown stratospheric platform. Roughly 20 km up, between airliners and satellites, the US, UK, China and India are already racing for a sensor that never blinks. Here is the military picture of the near-space contest.

On May 18, 2026, the full content of Japan's LDP proposal for revising its three security documents was revealed. Early deployment of interceptor drones, sustained warfighting capability lasting 'at least a year,' early-warning drones over the Pacific, next-generation submarines with long-range missiles ― here's what Japan's future defense posture looks like, shaped by Ukraine war lessons and China deterrence.

A black, sponge-like slab that floats with just lamp light has racked up 1.8 million views in a week. Developed at Nagoya University by Tomonaga Ueno, the carbon-nanotube aerogel is lighter than air and could quietly reshape EVs, eVTOL aircraft, drones and spacecraft. Here's how it actually works—and why the startup Sora Material thinks it's an industrial workhorse, not just a viral trick.

Terra Drone, ranked #1 globally among industrial drone service companies, has solo-won a roughly $2.6M contract for pipeline security surveillance in eastern Saudi Arabia. We unpack how Japan's drone champion is pivoting from inspection into AI-driven security patrols—and how it's threading the needle between Skydio's NDAA-compliant U.S. push and DJI's collapsing U.S. market share.

Terra Drone has unveiled flight footage of its fixed-wing interceptor drone Terra A2 — 75km range, 312km/h top speed, 40-minute endurance. CEO Toru Tokushige outlined the layered air defense vision in a United24 Media interview. Inside the modern methods of stopping Shahed-type kamikaze drones and the new air defense economics being shaped by a Japanese startup.

Chinese optical fiber prices have surged 6.5x in a year. Visible demand: AI data centers. Hidden demand: disposable drones consuming millions of km of fiber on the Ukraine battlefield. China holds 60% of preforms, Japan leads in ultra-multi-core 13,824-fiber cables, and the US dominates hyperscaler contracts. A three-way battle reshaping AI infrastructure.

On April 23, PM Sanae Takaichi met five foodtech CEOs at the PM's Office: Oishii Farm, PlantX, FRD Japan, Regional Fish, and Toko Tekko. Why these five? This article decodes how each company's technology answers one of the world's four shared food crises—climate-driven farmland collapse, ocean depletion, population growth, and shrinking farmer populations—and the strategic logic behind Japan choosing to win in specific categories rather than competing across the board.

JISDA (Japan Integrated Security Design Agency) has launched the Shiraha, a wooden fixed-wing drone costing just 70,000 yen (about 440 USD). Built on three years of field research within 20 km of Ukraine's front line, it targets Japan's training-attrition gap. How it differs from AirKamuy's cardboard drone and why Japan's defense mindset is finally shifting.

As drone warfare extends to the seas, Japan leads the world in autonomous ship technology. From the MEGURI 2040 project to combat-support USV development and lessons from Ukraine, explore the future of maritime security.

Japan's top drone company Terra Drone has announced its full-scale entry into the defense equipment market, establishing U.S. subsidiary 'Terra Defense.' The move comes amid Japan's record defense spending, the SHIELD coastal defense initiative, and growing global demand for military drones post-Ukraine.

Tokyo conducted Japan's first operational-scenario flight test of the domestic eVTOL 'SKYDRIVE' at Tokyo Big Sight, featuring facial recognition boarding and a mobile vertiport terminal. With Tokyo targeting commercial urban flights by 2030, we compare Japan's progress with US rivals Joby and Archer in the global air taxi race.

Aizawa Concrete's F3DP is a gasoline-powered drone with a robotic arm and nozzle that extrudes concrete in flight. It is aimed at printing formwork for floating offshore wind platforms by the end of 2028. A machine born from Japan's construction math: 4.77 million workers, 36.6% of them over 55.

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics deploys over 810 cameras to broadcast the Games, with FPV drones chasing alpine skiers at 100mph. At the heart of this revolution? Japanese technology from Sony, Canon, and Panasonic. From cinema-grade cameras to AI-powered replays and ultra-low-latency transmission, here's how Japan's imaging expertise is redefining how the world watches winter sports.

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics has introduced FPV drone cameras for the first time in Olympic history. These 100mph first-person-view drones deliver breathtaking footage that makes viewers feel like they're racing alongside athletes — but the high-pitched buzzing has drawn comparisons to the 2010 World Cup vuvuzelas. Here's how Japan and the world are reacting to this broadcasting revolution.

A compact snow-removal drone developed in Hokkaido went viral during Tokyo's February 2026 snowstorm, racking up 240,000 views on social media. Startup everblue technologies adapted 6 years of water drone expertise to create a $6,500 unmanned snow plow designed to clear snow before it accumulates. Could this "tiny giant" revolutionize winter life in Japan's aging snow country?