Regarding this JAPAN UAV ASSOCIATION

Ladies and Gentlemen, do you know Japan is actually a hidden UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)

Since before small multi-rotor unmanned aircraft (the so-called “Drone”) has been thrown into the limelight for these days, close to 2,000 ships of the UAV’s prefixed with the word “Industrial” are flying in the air of Japan, and they are expected to expand their areas of activity in various fields in the future as well. JAPAN UAV ASSOCIATION (hereinafter referred to as JUAV) is such an Industry Group as made its start in 2004 as “Japan Industrial-Use Unmanned Aircraft Association” with the aim of promoting the safe operation of those Industrial-Use Unmanned Aircraft being operated in Japan (hereinafter referred to as “UAV”) and contributing to the healthy fostering and development of the UAV markets, and got off in 2017 to a new start as a general incorporated association with a focus on the makers of the unmanned aircraft including the small multi-rotor aircraft. With an expansion of the field of the application of the UAV, the demands from the society for securing safety are being increased. In order to meet such social demands, JAPAN UAV ASSOCIATION (JUAV) is aiming at establishing the safety standards unified in the UAV industry in our country.

The history of the UAV started with the unmanned helicopter developed and introduced in our country for the purpose of effective pesticide spraying in the paddy field by manned helicopter more than twenty (20) years ago, since then, in response to the convenience of the unmanned helicopter as well as the changes of the social environment surrounding agriculture, the UAV has increased its number of usage in an instance.

And, the UAV is now being used for various usages such as the aerial seeding for the erosion greening construction as well as prevention of pine weevils, and is also used in the volcano monitoring at Mt. Usu and Miyake-jima., thus it has gradually expanded its operational range.

As for the applications for agriculture fields, Japan Agricultural Aviation Association, a general incorporated association, under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has set forth the operational standards for using the unmanned helicopter for the agriculture applications and is performing the qualifications and etc. of the pilot rating and the aircraft. 　On the other hand, as for the applications other than the applications for agriculture fields, it was the actual situation that there was no rule applicable to such applications. Therefore, from 2002, the four companies (i.e. Subaru Corporation formally known as Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd., Kawada Industries, Inc., Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., and Yammer Agricultural Equipment Co., Ltd.), all of whom are engaged in the development, manufacture and operation of the Industrial-use Unmanned Helicopter, have started the Industrial-use Unmanned Helicopter Investigative Commission, and since then, have been undertaking the study of the Unified Safety Standard Guideline for the operation of the Unmanned Aircraft for the applications other than the Agricultural Applications as the industry under the guidance of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and, in 2004, they were able to summarize the safety standards for the Unmanned Helicopter, and have supported the safe operations of more than two thousand (2,000) ships of the Industrial-use UAV’s for more than ten (10) years since then.

On the other hand, the miniaturization and high-performance of sensors, motors and batteries have dramatically progressed in these several years and the Unmanned Aircraft of Small Multi-Rotor type has dramatically expanded its market. Although the small sized aircraft for hobby was the mainstream at first, in these days, due to the facts that payload and flight time have expanded, the cases where the Unmanned Aircraft of Small Multi-Rotor type is being utilized for the Industrial-use have made sharp increase as well.

In response to this, the discussion for the utilization and safety control of the Unmanned Aircraft in which Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other Government Ministries and Agencies concerned have worked together has been activated, and although the Amended Aviation Law which has newly defined the Unmanned Aircraft has been enforced in 2015, settings of legislation and safety standards to realize the full scale operation are future major challenges. Therefore, based upon the recognition that it is necessary for not only makers but users and those who are engaged in the research, the marketing and sales, the operation to effectively and unifiedly perform the operation of said safety standards in one united body and it is necessary to carry out the study on the safety standards of all the Unmanned Aircrafts including not only the Unmanned Helicopters but the Small Multi-Rotor type Aircrafts, it has been decided that the Japan Industrial-Use Unmanned Aircraft Association is to be dissolved, and instead, the JAPAN UAV ASSOCIATION (or JUAV) is to be newly started.

In April, 2017, designating Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and Hirobo Corporation as promotor companies, and with guests from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well as from Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Inaugural Promotion General Meeting was held and this JAPAN UAV ASSOCIATION has made a new start, with participation by the makers of the Small Multi-Rotor type Aircrafts as well as the companies of various industries which have some connections with the operation and support of the Unmanned Aircraft, in the number of the members of 27 companies.

From now on, we intend to make efforts in dissemination and compliance of such safety standards by and through mutual cooperation among the member companies and we are scheduled to keep our activities towards the maintenance of the safety standards of all kinds of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles based upon the criteria of this ASSOCIATION.

June 1, 2017
Akitoshi Sakaguchi
President
JAPAN UAV ASSOCIATION

JAPAN UAV ASSOCIATION, A General Incorporated Association
Postal Code (〒) 433-8103
Toyooka-Cho 127, Kita-Ku, Hamamatsu-Shi, Shizuoka-Ken
PHONE.053-525-7319　FAX.053-525-8519