Blended Wing Cargo Drone Named Like a Hyundai Takes Flight for the First Time

There are several projects in the pipeline at the moment trying to give the world its first true autonomous cargo drone. At least four of them are being researched by California-based Natilus.

We’ve featured these guys before, as the concepts they're working on are unlike any other cargo drone out there. Adopting a blended wing body (BWB) design, meaning there's little visual distinction between the aircraft’s body and its wings, they should allow for a lot of freight to be shipped at once, at reduced costs.

Natilus has four variants of the drone in the pipeline, starting with the entry-level, medium-distance 3.8T Kona, and ending with the intercontinental 130T. None of them are actually physically in this world, but we did get news this week of the Kona moving a step closer to becoming real.

As per a company, a sub-scale prototype of the drone was flown from a private runway in California sometime recently. It reached speeds of 70 mph (113 kph) and, most importantly, proved the drone will not need a complex autopilot system to keep it stable – a known issue for BWB designs.

Now that the concept has proven it works, Natilus is moving to build a full-scale demonstrator, scheduled to take flight next year. The thing, 85 feet long (26 meters, the largest commercial air cargo drone ever made), will use a twin-engine setup to get airborne, spinning Hartzell propellers.

It should be capable of carrying 9,000 pounds (4.3 metric tons) of cargo, hidden inside its belly in a new type of cargo bay, holding standard pallets in various configurations. Takeoff can be achieved from runways as small as 800 meters (2,625 feet), and the maximum range the thing will be able to reach is 1,035 miles (1,666 km), at speeds of up to 253 mph (407 mph).

We’re told that pilotless cargo transport should be capable of carrying 60 percent more volume than comparable traditional aircraft, while requiring 60 percent less operating costs.

All of the above might seem a bit like something that won’t happen anytime soon, but then Natilus comes and says it already has purchase commitments for 460 of its drones, worth a combined $6.8 billion. The last major shipping company to join the cargo drone bandwagon is Ameriflight. The UPS partner and America’s largest Part 135 carrier placed a $134 million order for 20 such machines back in January 2023.

Aside for the Kona and the 130T we mentioned earlier, the Natilus lineup will also include the 100T Nordes and 60T Alisio. The maximum range one of these things (the 130T) can reach is 5,883 miles (9,468 km).