Medicine Hat firm signs Japan deal to test stratospheric aircraft tech
Landing Zones Canada Inc. and Japan's Meisei Electric Co. Ltd. signed the agreement in Tokyo, with joint flight campaigns planned over the next three years.
Why it matters
The deal brings high-altitude aerospace testing and international partnership work directly to Medicine Hat's local industry.
Medicine Hat-based Landing Zones Canada Inc. has signed an International Project Consortium Agreement with Japan's Meisei Electric Co. Ltd. to jointly test stratospheric aircraft technology, with initial trials planned in Alberta and the Arctic this fall. The deal was signed Thursday at the Embassy of Canada to Japan in Tokyo.
The agreement will integrate Landing Zones Canada's Eagle remotely piloted aircraft system with Meisei's ultra-compact stratospheric observation platform. Over the next three years, the companies plan joint flight campaigns in Canada, including high-altitude deployment and recovery trials and testing of reusable observation and communications payloads, with potential applications in meteorological observation, disaster response and security.
Landing Zones Canada CEO Spencer Fraser said the agreement puts into practice the Canada-Japan partnership set in motion by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Meisei President Masanobu Natsuake said the collaboration could advance weather monitoring and disaster prevention through stratospheric demonstrations in Canadian airspace.
The companies said the agreement supports the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed by Carney and Takaichi on March 6, which identified defence and security, advanced technology and innovation as areas for deeper co-operation. Landing Zones Canada, which builds uncrewed aircraft systems for civilian and security applications, operates in Medicine Hat and Ontario.
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