ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) is pleased to announce that Wingcopter GmbH (Headquarters in Weiterstadt, Germany; Tom Plümmer, CEO; hereinafter "Wingcopter"), a drone development and manufacturing company with which ITOCHU has concluded a capital and business alliance as well as a sales agency agreement, has applied for and received the acceptance of the 1^st Class first type certification for a fixed-wing drone under the unmanned aircraft (drone) type certification by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The drone subject to evaluation is Wingcopter's eVTOL-type drone "W198^*1," and this marks the first application and acceptance of a foreign company's drone in Japan. The type certification process will commence today.

In Japan, the amendment to the Aviation Act in December 2022 legalized Level 4 (beyond visual line of sight) ^*2 flights in manned areas, significantly expanding the application range of drones. First type certification ensures the safety and uniformity of the design and manufacturing process for aircraft intended for Level 4 flights in the unmanned aircraft field. When the first type certification is granted, flights equivalent to Level 4 will be accessible.

ITOCHU and Wingcopter conducted a verification experiment in May 2023 for the implementation of medical blood product transportation by drones, the one of the first of its kind in Japan. With medical supervision and cooperation, the experiment aimed to demonstrate the use of fixed-wing drones as an effective logistics means for solving various social issues by verifying the possibility of temperature-controlled transportation of blood products, which has been challenging for conventional multi-copter drones, as well as high-speed and long-distance stable movement achieved through full automation, which has also been considered difficult to achieve, together with quality management.

Through this application, both companies will continue to establish a drone delivery network using the high-performance tilt-rotor^*3 drone "W198" and aim to provide services that meet diverse needs and address various social challenges.