The R-MAX has been used in Japan and abroad for agriculture and a variety of other roles, including aerial surveys, reconnaissance, disaster response and technology development.

Fixed-wing manned crop dusters had been in use in Japan for many years, but the small size of most Japanese farms meant that this method was inefficient.

[2][3] As of 2015[update], the R-MAX fleet has conducted over two million hours of flying time in agricultural roles and several other capacities, including aerial sensing, photography, academic research, and military applications.

[1] Yamaha R-MAXs were used in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami to monitor radiation levels around the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster from inside the "no-entry" zone.

[6][7][8][9] In May 2014, Yamaha partnered with the American defense firm Northrop Grumman to produce the fully autonomous R-Bat variant of the R-MAX which they see having military and civilian applications.