Elroy Air

Cargo drone startup Elroy Air has announced a double milestone with the initial test flight of its C1 Chaparral freight UAV, which in turn represents what is thought to have been the sector’s first trial of a turbogenerator-hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plane.

Global air services company Bristow Group is looking to diversify from its historic passenger transport activities by securing preferred delivery of medium-haul Elroy Air Chaparral drones to facilitate its expansion into cargo operation.

Cargo drone developer Elroy Air says it has secured the purchase at least 20 of its Chaparral autonomous planes from aircraft and helicopter leasing company LCI, raising the total value of its order book to over $2 billion, according to the company.

San Francisco-based Elroy Air says it expects to deliver 100 autonomous cargo drones to Bristow, a leading provider of helicopter transportation to oil and gas customers, search and rescue (SAR), and aircraft support solutions to government and civil organizations.

FedEx says it is joining forces with California-based eVTOL cargo drone manufacturer Elroy Air to explore autonomous solutions within its middle-mile delivery operations. As part of this agreement, FedEx subsidiary FedEx Express will begin testing Elroy Air’s recently announced Chaparral cargo drone in 2023.

Elroy Air, a San Francisco, California-based cargo drone start-up company announced that is has raised $4.6 million in funding. The cargo drones, Elroy Air is planning to produce, will be capable of transporting up to 150 pounds of cargo for up to 300 miles. Most of the funding came from Levitate Capital, Homebrew, Shasta Ventures, and Lemnos, according to Quartz.

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