Japan

SkyDrive of Japan has formed a production subsidiary to build its electric SD-05 eVTOL aircraft at a Suzuki Motor company manufacturing plant starting in 2024.

The company says the trials are an “important step” as the AAM industry prepares to introduce eVTOL aircraft.

Japan’s space startups—and their U.S. subsidiaries—are playing a prominent role in several U.S. Space Force and NASA missions.

Malaysia’s largest oil refiner Petronas and Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu have signed a memorandum of understanding.

Astroscale Japan has received an $80 million grant from the Japanese government to “image and diagnose” a large, defunct satellite.

The new cargo terminal at Tokyo Narita Airport will be leased to All Nippon Airways.

A policy review document released this week shows it will take seven years to complete.

Industry partners in the three-nation Global Combat Air Program have reached a further collaboration agreement.

Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines is continuing to benefit from strong domestic demand, although this was not enough to fully offset the carrier’s rising costs.

The U.S.-Japan partnership is reportedly intended to counter growing threats of hypersonic missile technology from China, North Korea and Russia.

The Hexa is a single-seat, unwinged multicopter with a range of 15 mi. (24 km) and maximum cruise speed of 55 kt.

The Japan Air Self Defense Force's Kawasaki C-2 airlifter could carry long-range anti-surface missiles that ignite after being air dropped.

The 14-aircraft fleet, all based at the JGSDF Camp in Kisarazu, stood down on July 22.

Japan is doubling down on stand-off weapons and counter-strike capabilities as it describes the security landscape it faces as its “greatest trial since WWII.”

Ministers hope the agreement will lead to the launch of nonstop Croatia-Japan routes.

Italy will send four F-35s to Komatsu air base on the northern coast of Honshu, the Japanese mainland—the first Italian deployment to Japan since the 1920s.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (Roman) could push open the door to the discovery of vast numbers of planets.

Japan has ordered additional Leonardo AW101 heavy helicopters and will upgrade its existing fleet, providing a further boost to the Yeovil, UK-based production.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has finalized contracts with Japan’s MOD to enter the next phase of development of a new hypersonic weapons portfolo.

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Jerry Moran, along with eight other senators, will meet with French officials in Paris to promote U.S. aerospace technology.

Japan’s IHI has unveiled tech breakthroughs that could advance development of electric and fuel cell propulsion systems for aircraft in the 2030s.

Japan's new Space Security Initiative aims to expand the use of space-based technology to complement its defense requirements.

The move expands the current target for airlines to have at least 10% SAF in their total fuel uptake.

Tokyo-based Gitai, a startup developing several space robots, has raised about ¥4 billion ($29 million) in funding as part of a Series B extension round.

International airline capacity in the Asia-Pacific market is continuing its upward momentum.