Slovenian cargo drones for Chinese SF Express
Together with its Munich-based subsidiary, Amazilia Aerospace, Chinese integrated logistics provider SF Express is partnering with Pipistrel to accelerate the development of commercial large scale UAV operation.
The Slovenian aerospace company is designing an aircraft able to lift over 300 kg of cargo in a 2.3 cbm volume space over a range of 500 km.
The aircraft prototype is scheduled to undergo flight testing with the Amazilia Aerospace system in Europe followed by operational validation in China starting in 2022.
By 2023, SF Express intends to deploy the HVTOL cargo drone fleet in its domestic and non-domestic operations.
Li Dongqi, SF Express VP & SF UAS chairman: "We believe VTOL drones will become a major vehicle in China, and SF Express alone will need more than 1000 in the next ten years." (ah)