Red Cat Holdings Secures 173 Black Widow Systems Contract from Japanese Army
Red Cat Holdings disclosed new details on a previously announced recent Asia-Pacific contract award for its Black Widow systems. The award was the result of a competitive acquisition for 173 sUAS systems led by the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency, an external bureau of Japan's Ministry of Defense responsible for research and development, procurement, and project management of defense equipment. The end-user is the Japanese Army. The 173 systems are being delivered under Japan Fiscal Year 2026 funding. Red Cat is fulfilling the order in close coordination with Japanese partners HAMA K.K. and ITOCHU Aviation Co., Ltd., and with U.S. partner ITOCHU Aviation, Inc. In addition to a previous order from the Australian Army, this is the second Asia-Pacific Ally to order Black Widow systems for military use. Each system includes two Black Widow aircraft, one WEB ground control station, and other mission-critical components. In-country training and light maintenance support will be conducted by HAMA personnel, trained directly by Red Cat.