California-based company Volansi just revealed its Voly 50 UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) series, a new generation of lightweight, modular drones designed for long-haul transport.
One of the most important features of the Voly 50 is its flexibility, with the VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft being able to meet both the rigorous requirements of military customers operating in remote locations as well as those of various drone-based businesses.
Manufactured on U.S. territory, the Voly 50 is an eclectic aircraft that combines the aviation and robotic technologies used by Volansi in its previous models. The drone doesn’t require a special infrastructure such as runways, as it only needs little terrain to take off.
Volansi doesn’t offer the full specs of its new UAV, but we do know that the aircraft is built with redundant lift motors and has a modular, plug-and-play design. It is gasoline-powered and uses a fixed-wing, pusher-driven forward flight mode. The manufacturer will also offer the option to choose between gasoline engines and heavy-fuel such as JP5 or JP8.
While Volansi doesn’t mention the weight of its new drones, it does claim they are lightweight. The Voly 50 can fly at a top speed of 70 mph (112 kph) for eight hours.
As for the potential applications of the Voly 50, Volansi specifies that the drone is easily adaptable and can transport anything from commercial cargo to tech required for surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance (ISR) applications, which makes it suitable for customers such as the armed forces. The drone was designed with the flexibility to meet the growing demand for rapid delivery of critical assets as well as to conduct ISR missions using a small operational footprint, according to Hannan Parvizian, the company’s CEO.
Volansi made the headlines last year when it managed to achieve the first autonomous drone deliveries between two ships using its Voly 10 and Voly 20 UAVs. As for the new Voly 50 series, the San Francisco-based manufacturer says will hit the market in 2023.
