Aeronext Unveils Prototype Logistics Drone Equipped with New “ActiveWingTM” Technology　～Movable Auxiliary Wing Multicopter Enables High-Efficiency, Long-Range Flight～

Aeronext Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President & Group CEO: Keisuke Toji; hereinafter “Aeronext”) has developed and unveiled a prototype logistics drone equipped with its new proprietary technology, ActiveWing^TM*1, designed to achieve stable, long-range flight.

The prototype incorporates Aeronext’s new ActiveWing^TM technology, featuring a multicopter structure with auxiliary wings that generate additional lift during flight. This enables longer flight range and improved transport efficiency compared to conventional multicopter drones.

The aircraft is being developed as a multi-purpose platform for a wide range of applications, including logistics, surveillance, inspection, and aerial imaging.

In addition, the prototype adopts Aeronext’s proprietary airframe structural design technology, 4D GRAVITY^TM*2, which optimizes aerodynamic performance. This enhances fundamental industrial drone capabilities such as stability, efficiency, and maneuverability, while improving payload performance for logistics applications.

The prototype is being jointly developed with EAMS Robotics Co., Ltd. Starting around autumn 2026, Aeronext and its subsidiary, NEXT DELIVERY Inc., plan to gradually deploy the aircraft in drone logistics operations, including *New Smart Logistics SkyHub^TM*3 implementation areas across Japan, demonstration projects, and drone depots operated by SkyHub^TM Provider License (SPL)^*4 partners.

Background

In recent years, expectations for drone utilization in the logistics sector have been increasing. However, conventional multicopter drones face challenges in terms of flight range, payload capacity, and transport efficiency. Aeronext has focused on optimizing aerodynamic characteristics in its drone R&D, leveraging its technological expertise to achieve both efficiency and stability—key requirements for logistics drones.　 (Please see here for details.) This prototype represents the latest outcome of these efforts, incorporating Aeronext’s proprietary technologies to maximize aerodynamic performance.

Key Features of the New Logistics Drone

■ Long-Range Flight Performance Enabled by “ActiveWing^TM”
ActiveWing^TM is Aeronext’s proprietary technology that combines a multicopter with auxiliary wings to generate lift during flight. The system is designed to maintain a consistent wing angle even when the aircraft tilts, enabling stable flight while extending flight range.

■ High Stability and Transport Performance with 4D GRAVITY^TM
Aeronext’s proprietary 4D GRAVITY^TM technology enables uniform motor rotation and optimized center-of-gravity control regardless of flight posture or conditions. This enhances stability, efficiency, and maneuverability, delivering high payload performance required for logistics applications.

■ Design Optimized for Logistics Applications
The prototype features a top-loading, bottom-release cargo mechanism, enabling flexible delivery operations such as contactless drop-offs. The airframe is designed with water resistance, allowing operation in various environmental conditions. It also supports multi-aircraft remote and automated operations, with future applications envisioned not only in logistics but also in wide-area surveillance, infrastructure inspection, and aerial imaging.

Aeronext will continue to promote the social implementation of drone logistics through its technologies and intellectual property, contributing to the development of next-generation mobility industries and the resolution of social challenges by building new aerial infrastructure utilizing low-altitude airspace.

Reference

*1 ActiveWingTM
ActiveWingTM is a structural technology developed based on the design philosophy of 4D GRAVITYTM, in which auxiliary wings attached to a multicopter are independently actuated to optimize aerodynamic performance. By generating lift through the wings, the system supplements propeller thrust and extends flight range without compromising maneuverability. During cruising, the propeller rotation required for attitude control is maintained, achieving both efficiency and stability through a proprietary hybrid structure that combines propellers and auxiliary wings.

*2 4D GRAVITYTM
4D GRAVITYTM is Aeronext’s proprietary airframe structural design technology that optimizes aerodynamic performance by controlling lift, drag, and center of gravity based on the aircraft’s structure, while enabling uniform motor rotation regardless of flight posture, condition, or motion. This enhances the fundamental performance of industrial drones—such as stability, efficiency, and maneuverability—as well as payload performance for logistics drones. The technology is protected and managed as part of Aeronext’s 4D GRAVITYTM patent portfolio, expanding the potential applications and markets for industrial drones.

*3 New Smart Logistics SkyHubTM
New Smart Logistics SkyHubTM is a next-generation logistics platform jointly developed by Aeronext and SEINO Holdings. It integrates conventional ground transportation with drone delivery, connecting ground and aerial infrastructure to optimize overall logistics operations.
SkyHubTM is an open and standardized platform incorporating drone delivery. Using Drone DepotsTM as hubs, it combines vehicles and drones as delivery methods to provide services tailored to regional needs, including consolidated delivery across multiple logistics providers, personal shopping services, food delivery, and pharmaceutical distribution.
SkyHubTM also serves as a solution to reconstruct logistics networks and address regional challenges such as labor shortages due to population decline and aging, transportation issues in remote areas, healthcare access, disaster response, and support for underserved populations. It contributes to regional revitalization by improving convenience and quality of life, while supporting the development of sustainable local communities.

*4 SkyHubTM Provider License (SPL)
The SkyHubTM Provider License (SPL) is a program through which NEXT DELIVERY Inc., Aeronext’s strategic subsidiary, provides third parties with access to selected know-how, tools, and operational frameworks of the SkyHubTM model, which has been implemented across multiple regions in Japan, including Kosuge Village in Yamanashi Prefecture and Kamishihoro Town in Hokkaido.

【About Aeronext Inc.】
Aeronext’s mission is “Building a new social infrastructure for the 100-year life era, ensuring prosperity reaches every corner of society.” The company pioneers new value creation using low-altitude airspace. Aeronext provides 4D GRAVITYTM—its proprietary airframe structural design technology that optimizes gravity and aerodynamic characteristics to enhance basic industrial drone performance and improve logistics drone transport capabilities—through its technology licensing business and joint development projects.
Through its strategic subsidiary NEXT DELIVERY Inc., Aeronext also promotes SkyHubTM, a next-generation smart logistics platform integrating existing ground logistics and drone delivery, as well as a drone operation business led by one of Japan’s most experienced professional teams. SkyHubTM is already socially implemented across multiple regions in Japan, helping solve local logistics challenges.
*Company profile: https://aeronext.com/about/company/

*Aeronext and the Aeronext logo, NEXT DELIVERY, “4D GRAVITYTM”, “SkyHubTM” and “ActiveWingTM”are trademarks of Aeronext Inc.
*Other company and product names mentioned in this press release are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.