Zuri unveils hybrid-electric tiltrotor cargo VTOL with 165 kg useful load and 679 km range
Why It MattersThe design signals growing interest in uncrewed hybrid-electric cargo VTOLs for offshore, island and military resupply missions currently served by helicopters or vessels.
Zuri has unveiled an uncrewed hybrid-electric tiltrotor cargo VTOL aimed at civil and defence operators. The aircraft carries more than one hundred kilograms over a design range of 679 km, or 569 km with a full 30-minute fuel reserve, cruising at 220 km/h, with a combined payload-plus-fuel useful load of 165 kg. It can land on a pad, a ship deck, or open ground.
The design is based on Technology Demonstrator 2.0 (TD 2.0), a full-scale aircraft undergoing systems integration and ground testing in Prague, with flight testing planned to begin in early 2027. Zuri says six of the programme's eight graded risks have already been retired, and the company has flown more than fifteen aircraft and conducted hundreds of test flights since 2018, achieving full-scale hover since 2021.
A EUR 6 million Series A first tranche is funding TD 2.0 and its full flight test campaign, with EUR 1.1 million already committed by existing investors. Zuri described target missions including scheduled resupply to offshore platforms and islands, delivery of critical parts to idle rigs, humanitarian relief past damaged infrastructure, and military logistics resupply, citing a North Sea platform mission with a 200 km leg out and back and a 380 km Baltic base resupply run that could be completed in a morning rather than the better part of a day by road convoy.
