Zuri today unveiled the Zuri uncrewed cargo VTOL, a hybrid-electric tiltrotor for civil and defence operators. “It carries a hundred-plus kilograms over 679 km by design, or 569 km with a full 30-minute reserve, cruises at 220 km/h, and lands on a pad, a deck, or open ground,” said the company in a press release. “The useful load is 165 kg, payload plus fuel.”
It is built on Technology Demonstrator 2.0, the full-scale aircraft now in ground test in Prague. A EUR 6 million Series A first tranche funds TD 2.0 and its full flight test campaign, with EUR 1.1 million committed by existing investors, says the company.
“The missions are routine and extraordinary: scheduled resupply to offshore platforms and islands, the failed part that idles a rig, relief past broken roads and bridges, and resupply to positions where the risk is sending people. Today a hundred-kilogram load to a North Sea deck goes by helicopter or supply vessel, or it waits; the aircraft flies the 200 km leg out and back while the vessel is still outbound, then refuels and flies it again. A 380 km resupply run between Baltic bases takes a road convoy most of a day; the aircraft covers it in a morning. No one is on board for any of it.”
Zuri reports it has flown more than fifteen aircraft and hundreds of test flights since 2018, and has held full-scale hover since 2021. “Technology Demonstrator 2.0 carries the whole architecture in one full-scale aircraft and is in systems integration and ground test in Prague now. Flight testing is planned to begin in early 2027, and what TD 2.0 proves in the air becomes the uncrewed cargo aircraft. Six of the program’s eight graded risks are already retired. “
For more information
https://zuri.com/news/zuri-unveils-uncrewed-cargo-vtol?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cargo-vtol-launch
(Image: Zuri)