Kawasaki Heavy Industries: K-RACER-X2, the latest prototype for unmanned VTOL aircraft

Kawasaki, a member of the “Construction of a Material Transport Platform by Unmanned VTOL Aircraft Project” in Ina City, Nagano Prefecture, conducted flight tests and demonstration flights using its latest prototype, the K-RACER-X2. In mountainous areas of Japan, while transportation capacity is decreasing due to the shrinking workforce, demand for transporting goods to mountain huts and maintaining and updating various public infrastructure remains strong, and the risk that logistics infrastructure becoming unsustainable is increasing. The latest demonstrator, K-RACER-X2, has significantly improved its payload from 100 kg to 200 kg at an altitude of 0m by, for example, increasing the main rotor diameter of the former model, K-RACER-X1, from 5m to 7m. As the next step, the project team will be verifying the service capability through a demonstration test in which goods will be transported from the base of the mountain to mountain huts.