Kawasaki Successfully Completes Japan’s First Test for Filling a Hydrogen Aircraft Storage Tank with Liquefied Hydrogen

Tokyo, November 6, 2025 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that it has successfully completed Japan’s first test filling a fuel tank designed for hydrogen-powered aircraft with liquefied hydrogen (LH₂). The test was conducted as part of the “Development of Core Technologies for Hydrogen Aircraft” Project (hereinafter “Project”), which was selected by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and subsidized as one of its Green Innovation Fund projects, “Next-Generation Aircraft Development.”

For the Project, Kawasaki’s aim is to develop technologies for achieving a double-shelled vacuum-insulated tank that is lightweight and highly insulated, to be used for hydrogen-powered aircraft. In this phase, a test was performed using a lightweight, 1.3-meter-diameter, LH₂ fuel storage tank prototype. The test, which was conducted at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Noshiro Rocket Testing Center in Akita Prefecture, verified that this lightweight tank employing double-shelled vacuum insulation technology exhibits high insulation performance and is capable of storing LH₂ at a cryogenic temperature while maintaining airtightness.

It was carried out as part of development operations for one of three development subjects of the Project — “Liquefied hydrogen fuel storage tank development.” In 2024, Kawasaki successfully completed an operational test for a 100% hydrogen-fueled small aircraft engine for a second development subject, “Engine combustor and system technology development,” and in the remaining subject — “Study of hydrogen-aircraft architecture concept” — Kawasaki is currently making steady progress, driving forward the development of core technologies for hydrogen aircraft.

NEDO has designated the decade which began in 2021 as the phase for developing core technologies. This development phase is scheduled to be followed by on-land demonstration tests in 2030 to assess the feasibility and performance of the integrated system resulting from all the core technologies developed.

Kawasaki is committed to achieving society-wide carbon neutrality by proactively pursuing hydrogen-related projects. These include not only projects to continue developing the core technologies needed for hydrogen aircraft, but also those for resolving technological challenges facing the aerospace industry in achieving carbon neutrality, and those for driving forward another Green Innovation Fund project “Liquefied Hydrogen Supply Chain Commercialization Demonstration Project.”

Related Links

Kawasaki Hydrogen Aircraft Core Technology Development Project Selected for NEDO Green Innovation Fund Support (November 5, 2021)
https://global.kawasaki.com/en/corp/newsroom/news/detail/?f=20211105_3638

Kawasaki Successfully Completes Small, Hydrogen-fueled Aircraft Engine Test (October 17, 2024)
https://global.kawasaki.com/en/corp/newsroom/news/detail/?f=20241017_0441