Protecting Power Transmission Infrastructure―Main Artery of Society K-RACER to Revolutionize Aerial Logistics Services
Kanden Engineering Corporation (“Kanden Engineering”), a comprehensive engineering company that undertakes power transmission facility projects—an essential function for stable electricity supply—by providing integrated services across processes from construction to maintenance and inspection, and AERO TOYOTA CORPORATION (“Aero Toyota”), a leading helicopter cargo transport service provider, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (“Kawasaki”), an aircraft manufacturer, are joining forces to revolutionize aerial logistics services.
On March 13, 2025, the three companies concluded the “Agreement on Collaboration for Cargo Transport to Transmission Towers Using the Unmanned Helicopter K-RACER.” On December 1 of the same year, a K-RACER demonstration test and demo-flight session was conducted on the assumption that the aircraft was tasked with transporting cargo to a transmission-tower worksite. The event took place at the Koka Training Center of Kansai Transmission and Distribution, Inc. (Koka City, Shiga Prefecture). There are growing expectations for K-RACER to offer a novel solution to issues faced by transmission-tower maintenance services. The following are is a report on interviews with representatives of the three companies, who shared their visions of the future possibilities to be opened up by this innovative aerial vehicle―
On the front lines of power
Electricity, an integral part of daily life and something we take for granted, is delivered via a network of approximately 240,000 transmission towers installed throughout the country, constituting essential infrastructure supporting households and industries, which is thus often referred to as the “main artery of society.” Kanden Engineering, a member of the Kansai Electric Power Group, has been engaged in the maintenance of this power infrastructure for more than 80 years.
“Today, we are witnessing a crucial event to usher in a new age of power transmission line work.”
The day of K-RACER’s demo-flight was kicked off by Shinichi Saito, Executive Officer of Kanden Engineering, giving the above opening remarks to the attendees.
“As a Kansai Electric Power Group company, we are engaged in the periodic replacement and maintenance of about 30,000 transmission towers installed in the Kansai region. For large-scale works, such as replacement, appropriate logistics systems have been built by establishing cargo transport procedures using large helicopters and monorails. For smaller-scale quick-delivery maintenance works, however, in order to deliver cargo totaling about one-ton to a remote destination, transport procedures are still based on the traditional style of manual carrying.”
Many transmission towers are located in mountainous areas inaccessible by road, which implies the unavoidable need for full manual transportation of cargo for maintenance work. To repaint a 500,000-voltage transmission tower, for instance, cargo necessary for the work includes thirty 18-liter drums of antirust paint , insulators and other replacement parts, and work gear including full-body safety harnesses and ropes. Carrying such a heavy load of cargo along unpaved tracks involves prohibitively hard work.
“Our capacity for undertaking transmission tower replacement works barely reaches 150 units per year. This translates into 200 years needed to complete a full round of replacement work for the present 300,000 transmission towers, and adequate maintenance capabilities are also required to ensure continued operation of the equipment. At present, maintenance work involves dangerous and strenuous physical labor to carry heavy loads along steep mountain trails and conducting conduct work at height on the tower at the destination. What is worse, the industry is facing a labor shortage due to the declining birthrate. We need to establish a small-scale, efficient logistics function to be operated in various mountainous areas, which is also important for achieving sustainable work capabilities, and this is a pressing issue for the electricity transmission industry.”
In this situation, K-RACER developed by Kawasaki was singled out as a solution to this industrial issue. It is a reciprocating engine-powered unmanned helicopter, and boasts a number of advantages over the standard drone system, such as wind resistant performance to 18 m/s, compared with 10 m/s for even high-performance drones, to provide sufficient resistance to strong winds specific to remote mountainous areas; and a maximum payload of 200 kg, the equivalent of a light truck and far superior to a general drone delivery service.
K-RACER-X2: Basic Specifications
Main rotor diameter : 7.0m
Overall height : 2.0m
Maximum payload : 200kg
Powerplant : Reciprocating engine
Fuel type : High octane gasoline
Maximum velocity : Approx. 140km/h
Range : 100km or more
Continuous operation time: 1 hour
Wind resistance : Approx. 18m/s
“The three companies are promoting this collaboration aiming to revolutionize aerial logistics services using K-RACER, by tackling a major challenge in the electricity transmission industry. We are strongly committed to developing K-RACER into a leading means of air cargo transport in Japan, hoping to open a bright future for our business. ”
Deliver cargo to inaccessible mountainous areas with reduced costs and labor
It was Hiroshi Kato, President & CEO of Aero Toyota, a pioneer in the airfreight industry and a long-time supporter of Kanden Engineering, who first suggested the plan to use K-RACER to provide logistics support for transmission tower maintenance work.
“When I heard from Mr. Saito at Kanden Engineering about the situation of the industry where aged maintenance engineers have to carry heavy loads of the materials they use to worksites in remote locations, I suggested using K-RACER as a possible solution to the problem, especially given its maximum payload of 200 kg. Also, at that time, we happened to be meeting with Kawasaki to participate in activities related to deregulation in the aviation industry, so I invited the company to join. That was how this collaboration began.”
Known for its top-notch operation techniques as well as measurement and analysis techniques in Japan’s aviation industry, Aero Toyota has in the past provided manned helicopter cargo transport services to transmission tower projects of various types, ranging from large-scale demolition and removal projects to new construction, replacement and maintenance work. The company’s manned helicopter fleet includes aircraft with a payload capacity ranging from 600 kg to 3 tons, which, however, is often an unnecessarily large capacity for the purpose of logistics for maintenance work, as Kato described.
“Maintenance service providers want to have relevant materials delivered on a what-is-needed-when-it-is-needed basis due to the limited size of worksites in mountainous areas. Therefore, the project is to use a manned helicopter for large-volume transport to a relay point, from where K-RACER is deployed for frequent, small-volume deliveries to the final destination.”
The plan is to establish procedures for adopting the unmanned autopilot K-RACER to deliver cargo to worksites in mountainous areas unsuitable for access by large helicopters, as a way to remove the burden of loading operations by omitting the related process as well as alleviating the shortage of labor and equipment occurring in summer, the busiest season for maintenance work, thus providing a solution to a major industrial issue.
“Our operation capacity is limited and may not necessarily satisfy peak seasonal demand. To address this situation, we need to build a flexible operation system in order to avoid affecting the work schedule. In light of this, K-RACER operations should be reduced to a minimum. By limiting staffing levels to the minimum required at the departure and destination point as well as on the ground at the worksite, we aim to minimize the overall cost of airborne transport. At present, the project is generously staffed for operations in the demonstration stage, while at the same time we are considering accelerating joint activities to create related scenarios and specific operation options, and planning to start mass production in 2028. ”
K-RACER to usher in a new age of aerial logistics services and unmanned mobility systems
In the K-RACER demo-flight in December 2025, a simulation was conducted for the helicopter to fulfill the assumed cargo transport task in an actual worksite setting in a mountainous area, based on the aircraft landing/takeoff permit obtained for special locations (off-airport landing sites approachable from only one direction due to geographical constraints). K-RACER was programmed to fly in the vicinity of obstacles, such as transmission towers and power lines, along the preset routes indicated by waypoints (GPS coordinates).
“The destination was out of visual range from the start point, the flight route was set up so as to thread through a tight network of transmission lines and towers, and the unloading site was located in a very small area of 2m x 2m. Under such challenging actual worksite conditions, the demonstration verified the successful completion of automated operations for a range of processes from load-lifting to unloading. That was a very significant achievement. In windy mountainous areas, particularly precise control is required to ensure proper unloading performance. To meet this difficult requirement, we have built a tablet-based flight control function.”
As described by Hiroaki Kagaya, Executive Officer of Kawasaki, in addition to autopilot control, K-RACER is equipped with a number of other automation technologies, including an automated cargo tie-down system featuring the company’s proprietary development of a position controller to enable unattended load-lifting and unloading operations. This also constitutes a significant safety measure, as workers would have previously been assigned to the job, which needed to be performed manually in the past.
“Cargo tie-down hooks easily become electrostatically charged, occasionally causing a spark during the unhooking process. This phenomenon is very dangerous in places where transmission lines carrying tens of thousands of volts are present. We truly appreciate this invention, as it can free workers from this dangerous task that would otherwise be performed by hand in the traditional way.”
In addition, K-RACER’s easy-to-deploy compact design is suited to carrying out operations in remote mountainous areas. The major related features include: foldable rotor blades, which allow for the aircraft to be transported on a truck on general roads; and purpose-built carts created to enable loading by two persons and a 5-minute deployment.
“Most of the 240,000 or so transmission towers located across the country were built during the period of high economic growth. So it’s about time replacement plans were formulated. However, it is difficult to implement the plans nationwide simultaneously, given the shrinking working-age population. I listened to Mr. Saito and understood the challenging situation facing the industry supporting electricity supply infrastructure, something we take for granted. In order to lessen the burden on on-site workers, we are striving to achieve the commercialization of K-RACER as early as possible, which is Kawasaki’s mission to fulfill in this project. Based on the recent successful demo-flight performed by K-RACER-X2, a demonstration model, we are moving forward with mass-production model development while reflecting test results as well as the staffing issues as Mr. Kato has just described. Wishing to play a part in supporting Japan’s social infrastructure, we are accelerating commercialization efforts looking to move ahead of the date scheduled for 2028. ”
Kawasaki Executive Officer Kagaya, while recognizing the project has a lot of challenges remaining to overcome in order to advance mass-production model development, is also looking ahead to the future in pursuit of new possibilities.
“Manned helicopter operations facing a pilot shortage and manual transportation under severe conditions are posing challenges not only to transmission tower work services but also a number of other sectors, including mountain lodge operations. A solution to this situation can be offered by K-RACER providing the transportation capability to help implement replacement and maintenance work in an efficient manner while reducing staffing levels. Also, we are promoting deregulation initiatives jointly with Aero Toyota, with an eye to expanding the number of flight route options. We are committed to commercialization and mass-production of K-RACER in a bid to implement a new mode of air transport, in essence a flying light truck.”
In addition, Aero Toyota President & CEO Kato took note of the physical and mechanical appeal of K-RACER, which he recognizes as a driving force of the project seeking to revolutionize aerial logistics services, separately from practicality.
“First and foremost, the machine looks good. I especially like the mufflers, which resemble those of a motorbike. It’s a quality industrial product with an attractive appearance. The basic structure is based on a motorbike’s design, and the total number of parts is reduced to a one-third of a large helicopter. In addition to its near-maintenance-free system, the machine’s design characteristics raise our motivation for working on this project.”
Kanden Engineering Executive Officer Saito also noted the importance of an appealing appearance, key to drawing a lot of good talents to this industry. He expressed his strong commitment to the K-RACER project and the power transmission industry, as follows:
“We take pride in engaging in transmission tower maintenance services, an essential function in protecting basic infrastructure, which is often likened to the main artery of society, while adapting to the harsh work environment. I cannot overemphasize the significance of the K-RACER project in order to ensure sustainable work capabilities and increase safety and efficiency. K-RACER should become an engine to revolutionize the work practices of the power transmission industry. For this purpose, while presenting to Kawasaki various requests and suggestions as a user, we will continue working together to deliver a successful project.”
