Blended Wing Cargo Drone Gets Hydrogen Power

Hydrogen-electric propulsion company ZeroAvia has teamed with Natilus, which has designed an autonomous blended wing body cargo plane that might offer some advantages in making a commercially viable aircraft. The spacious interior of the Kona has more room to store hydrogen than conventional designs and that might tip the balance in getting the range necessary to make a useable aircraft.

In a news release, Natilus CEO Aleksey Matyushev said the plane will carry up to 9,000 pounds of cargo and predicts transcontinental range. Natilus has done wind tunnel testing on scale prototype and ZeroAvia has a working engine that's been flown eight times on a 19-seat test aircraft. Based on that, Natilus is claiming $6.8 billion in orders and Zero Avia has contracts with Textron and Otto Aviation. "The Natilus-ZeroAvia partnership goes further, bringing the talents and innovations of the two companies together to deliver much needed innovation in the air cargo delivery industry and multiple solutions for our customers,” Matyushev said.