Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has published guidance for the operation of multiple drones.
“Guidelines for Safely Operating Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Simultaneously (First Edition)” were created to promote the commercialisation of drones by expanding and promoting “multiple-aircraft simultaneous operation,” where one pilot operates multiple drones at the same time.
To further promote commercialisation, the guidelines have now been revised to remove the upper limit on the number of aircraft that a single pilot can operate simultaneously. “With this revision, in areas such as logistics and infrastructure inspection, it will be possible to improve operational efficiency by allowing a pilot at a remote control base to operate more drones simultaneously in different areas, enabling operation at a lower cost and further promoting the commercialisation of drones,” MLIT said today (June 2)
The upper limit on the number of aircraft has been abolished on the premise of verifying the effectiveness of measures to address the risks associated with a gradual increase in the number of aircraft operating simultaneously.
In addition, knowledge gained from simultaneous operation of multiple aircraft demonstrations conducted in FY2025 has been incorporated into the revised guidance. MLIT worked with stakeholders in both the public and provate sectors to revise the guidelines.
For more information
Revised guidelines at MLIT [in Japanese]
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