Futaba Corporation, a Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed maker of radio-control equipment, industrial servos and drones, has agreed to acquire 91.9% of Homura Heavy Industries (炎重工), a startup in Takizawa, Iwate Prefecture, that builds unmanned surface vessels, or water drones. Futaba's board approved the deal on October 23, 2026, and the contract was signed the same day.
Futaba is buying 4,388 shares for ¥698 million (about $4.4 million), a figure that includes estimated advisory and other fees, according to the M&A news service Nihon M&A Center, which summarised Futaba's filing. The main seller is Kiji Co., Ltd., Homura's largest shareholder, which is also based in Takizawa. The share transfer is scheduled for October 30, 2026.
Homura will become a Futaba group company. Futaba said the effect on its consolidated results for the year ending March 2027 would be minor.
What Homura built
Homura was founded in February 2016 and is led by representative director Hiromasa Furusawa. It designs and makes unmanned surface vessels in Japan, handling everything from hulls and circuit boards to software, and produces them in volume in the Tohoku region, according to Futaba's release. Its range includes unmanned boats and amphibious drones, and the company plans, develops, manufactures, sells and maintains them itself.
Its main product, Marine Drone, can be operated remotely or run autonomously, day or night and in a range of weather, the Japanese mobility site Jidounten Lab reported. It is built to fit Japan's rules for mini-boats, so operators do not need a ship's licence or vessel inspection, and it can be fitted with cameras or equipment for collecting floating rubbish or carrying out environmental surveys.
Customers come from defence, maritime safety, surveying and infrastructure inspection, and agriculture, forestry and fisheries, according to Nihon M&A Center. In 2023 Homura helped found the Japan Water Drone Association, the release said. The company was also selected for a demonstration at Yumeshima, the site of the 2025 Osaka Expo.
The funding
Homura's capital, including capital reserve, was ¥224 million as of December 2025, according to the release. DRONE FUND, a Japanese venture capital fund that invests in drones and air mobility, announced an investment in the company in early 2023 to speed up development of Marine Drone, Jidounten Lab reported. The amount was not disclosed.
At the time, DRONE FUND co-representative Soki Ohmae said water drones use less energy than aerial drones because they do not have to fight gravity, and that the company's ability to operate within existing size rules would help its products reach customers quickly.
Why Futaba is buying
Futaba's robotics business makes hobby radio-control systems, industrial servos and aerial drones, and it has built its technology around wireless communication and remote control. Buying Homura extends its unmanned systems from the air to the water.
Futaba pointed to two pressures behind demand: Japan's ageing infrastructure, and a shortage of workers to inspect it. The company wants to combine its aerial drones, used for wide-area monitoring, with Homura's surface drones, used for close-up inspection of bridges, ports, rivers, dams and sewers, Drone Journal reported. The same pairing would be used in disasters, with aerial drones assessing damage and water drones checking sites, and for maritime safety.
Futaba also said it aims to build a domestic platform for unmanned systems by combining its communication and control technology with Homura's autonomous navigation, and that it expects to widen its customer base among defence agencies, local governments and infrastructure operators.
What happens next
Futaba has not announced any change in Homura's management. Futaba president Motoaki Arima praised Furusawa's engineering in the release, saying he rated it among the best in Japan, and Furusawa said the company was pleased to join the Futaba group. Both statements were made in Japanese.
The deal is small relative to Futaba's business, which is why the company expects little effect on its results, but it gives Futaba an in-house design team and a production base for water drones in Tohoku. Futaba's own recent drone work has included a disaster-response drone delivered to a fire department in Chiba Prefecture, Drone Journal noted.
