Flowcopter's hydraulic UAV is ready for production

Flowcopter has successfully demonstrated its heavy-lift utility uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV), the FC100, in outdoor flight trials at the UAS Denmark Test Center at Hans Christian Andersen Airport in Odense.

Flowcopter successfully tested its utility uncrewed aerial vehicle (uUAV) in Denmark. Image: Flowcopter

The FC100 was born out of the need for robust, heavy payload uncrewed platforms with greater endurance in markets traditionally requiring helicopters, such as search and rescue, remote and offshore logistics, and humanitarian aid.

“We are returning home with our technical readiness tests completed and will be implementing a design freeze to share this model with several interested clients,” said Uwe Stein, technical director at Flowcopter.

Hans Christian Andersen Airport is a world-class location for the testing and development of drone technologies, and the Flowcopter flight team based themselves at the Test Centre over the course of a week of flight testing.

Flowcopter’s novel technology uses a lightweight hydraulic drive train already proven in harsh environments to deliver a completely new class of aircraft. Part of an initial production batch of three, the company believes that the FC100 answers the demand for greater utility in net zero-ready UAVs, with a headline capability of moving 100 kg of cargo for a 200 km round trip.

“I am delighted that we could showcase our FC100 to European customers and for the reception and resounding endorsement we received. We are confident in the robust performance of our uUAV and its application-rich utility. We have now moved our attention to expanding the production capacity at our manufacturing base,” said Peter McCurry, managing director of Flowcopter.

The company is planning to enter production soon and is already receiving strong interest from customers in different vertical markets, including offshore wind farm operations, agriculture, and urban air mobility (UAM).