Dufour Aerospace, the pioneering Swiss drone manufacturer, announced a major milestone: the completion of its first flight test campaign with a hybrid-electric system designed in-house for its Aero2 drone. The Aero2 flew several test flights in Zurich, with the hybrid system self-charging its batteries in flight.
The news is significant as it completes Dufour’s vision of a hybrid-electric powertrain, with an innovative tilt-wing design, and autonomous flight. This is believed to be the first-ever successful flight of a large-scale serial hybrid-electric aircraft, transitioning from vertical takeoff to forward flight.
“Dufour Aerospace achieved a major milestone with these flights,” said Sascha Hardegger, CEO of Dufour Aerospace. “All of Dufour’s in-house developments — the Flight Control System and Control Software, Power Management System, and the integrated Powertrain — must work together seamlessly to achieve this.”
“The beauty of the Aero2 is mission-efficiency and a simpler system for charging aircraft. Our customers do not need to plug in the Aero2 for hours to run their next mission. Recharging is accomplished in the air, not on the ground, enabling back-to-back missions. It can land, exchange the payload, and restart the next mission immediately.”
In takeoff, the Aero2 is fully powered by high-performance batteries. Upon transition to forward flight, the Aero2 hybrid-electric system is engaged to produce electricity on board, which powers the electric motors and recharges the batteries. At present, the hybrid system uses conventional gasoline but is being readied for heavier fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel and kerosene. In all cases, its carbon footprint and operating costs are dramatically lower than helicopters or the conventionally fuelled helicopter style drones of today.
“Dufour has proven the critical systems on the aircraft. It demonstrates that our aircraft will be mission-ready for all of the use cases we envision,” Hardegger said. “Initially, we are focusing on the delivery of critical cargo such as medical goods or urgently needed spare parts, where we are seeing a lot of operators and end-users waiting for efficient transport solutions. Additionally, we are closely looking into supporting various remote-sensing applications.”
