Dufour flies cargo drone under hybrid-electric power

Swiss drone manufacturer Dufour Aerospace has completed its first flight test campaign with a hybrid-electric system for its Aero2 drone.
The aircraft flew several test flights in Zurich, with the in-house designed hybrid system self-charging its batteries in 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.”
In takeoff, the Aero2 is fully powered by batteries. Upon transition to forward flight, the hybrid-electric system is engaged to produce electricity on board, which powers the electric motors and recharges the batteries.
“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,” said Hardegger.
At present, the hybrid system uses conventional gasoline but is being readied for heavier fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel and kerosene.
“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,” added Hardegger. “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.”