Drone Forge secures record Flexrotor order with Airbus in Asia-Pacific
The agreement specifies that the Flexrotor systems will be mission-ready and tailored to support a wide range of operational requirements within the Asia-Pacific region. These include littoral surveillance, high-altitude inland missions, infrastructure monitoring, and maritime environment assessment.
Each Flexrotor unit will be equipped with a heavy fuel engine designed for maritime operations. This configuration is intended to enhance safety, ensure widespread fuel availability, and improve interoperability with naval assets in the field.
Starlink connectivity will be integrated into the systems to facilitate beyond-line-of-sight operations and enable real-time situational awareness. Furthermore, the Flexrotor will incorporate PT-6 imaging technology. This technology provides stabilised, high-resolution capabilities for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, supporting efficient wide-area maritime monitoring.
Thomas Symes, Chief Executive Officer of Drone Forge, emphasised the anticipated impact of the Flexrotor in new market segments. "We are fully convinced that the Flexrotor, built on a strong engineering heritage, will allow us to tap into new markets with a proven solution where real-time intelligence, mission flexibility and reliability matters," said Thomas Symes, Chief Executive Officer of Drone Forge. "We look forward to integrating and commercialising the Flexrotor systems in the region."
The agreement is the follow-up to a recent Letter of Intent signed between Drone Forge and Airbus, establishing a framework for collaboration in the deployment and integration of the Flexrotor UAS in Asia-Pacific operations.
Olivier Michalon, Executive Vice President of Global Business at Airbus Helicopters, highlighted the significance of the order for the company's partnership with Drone Forge. "The landmark order opens a new chapter in our partnership with Drone Forge, reinforcing our shared commitment to delivering cutting-edge crewed-uncrewed teaming capabilities to Asia-Pacific operators," said Olivier Michalon, Executive Vice President of Global Business at Airbus Helicopters. "With strong confidence in the Flexrotor's efficiency and reliability, this force multiplier will drive operational excellence in defence and security applications."
The Flexrotor is the latest addition to the Airbus UAS portfolio. It is a modern Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) uncrewed aircraft with a maximum launch weight of 25 kg. It is designed for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions, with an operational endurance of over 12–14 hours under typical configurations.
The system supports the integration of varying payloads, including electro-optical systems and advanced sensors that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of individual customers. Its autonomous launch and recovery capability is designed for operation from both land and sea, requiring only a 3.7 by 3.7 metre area for deployment, making it suitable for expeditionary missions that demand a minimal logistical footprint.
With the agreement now in place, Drone Forge and Airbus Helicopters will move forward with the commercialisation and regional deployment of the Flexrotor systems in the Asia-Pacific market. The order marks a significant commitment to expanding the scope of uncrewed aerial systems in defence, security, and monitoring missions across the region.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
26-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Arriving on a jet plane
Of the dozen or more planes which landed at Dunedin Airport on Tuesday, one Jetstar flight was just that little bit more special than the other arrivals. When the Airbuses' wheels hit the Momona tarmac at 2.30pm, Dunedin Airport was once again Dunedin International Airport, as the first of three scheduled weekly flights between here and the Gold Coast reconnected the southern city with Australia, and the world. To say that the flight had been eagerly awaited would be a major understatement. Southern tourism operators, already slammed by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, have been desperate for an international flight of some description to resume on a route to Dunedin. While tens of thousands of cruise ship passengers make for a busy spring and summer, operators do bring tours to Dunedin in autumn and winter, and some visitors to southern skifields do roam further afield, there is no substitute for a potential 20,000-plus visitors a year landing at your doorstep. Quite apart from the potential tourism spend benefits of the new route for Dunedin, for families who have loved ones on either side of the Tasman, reuniting for important life milestones will now be just that little bit easier. Both they and the business community will welcome not having to book three or four connecting flights to get themselves from Dunedin to points further afield, or having to make a time-consuming drive to Queenstown or Christchurch to fly directly out of the country. The subject of international flights has been an important one for Otago Daily Times readers — it is a regular topic of letters to the editor, and even more so after local teen Benjamin Paterson launched his lobbying campaign for Dunedin to be put back on flight schedules. This was, of course, something which many people in the city had been working on for many months, although the added impetus of the publicity Benjamin gained did those working in the background no harm whatsoever. Many people, from the airport to the council to local politicians to Benjamin Patterson, can claim a moment in the sunshine which that first plane was bathed in when it landed in Dunedin on Tuesday. But in many ways the hard work starts now. As many of our aforementioned readers have noted in their letters, Jetstar is a business, not a charity, and unless people use this new route it will be closed. The expense, let alone the carbon footprint, of transtasman flights will be unjustifiable if the Airbus is full of empty seats. Dunedin's tourism operators already enthusiastically spruik the city and region's virtues to potential overseas visitors. Those efforts, not just in the Australian market but further afield, will now need to be redoubled so as to ensure a steady stream of sightseers to the city. Conference organisers should also be encouraged to put Dunedin back on their schedules, now that it is potentially easier for overseas attendees to make their way South. Inevitably, some have questioned whether Coolangatta is really the prime destination in Australia which southerners wish to travel to. But quite apart from the fact that there is plenty to recommend about its Gold Coast location, Coolangatta is an hour by road from Brisbane and its airport has regular connecting flights to all state capitals, as well as Indonesia, Canada and the United States. That does indeed make Dunedin closer to the world. The welcome mat was well and truly out on Tuesday, and hopefully it will remain so. Takutai Tarsh Kemp The death of Te Pati Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp yesterday was the second time this Parliamentary term that the House has had to adjourn business as MPs mourn one of their own. She was not a prolific contributor in the debating chamber, but the kidney complaint which she quietly managed and which claimed her at the cruelly young age of 50 offers an explanation for that. It is also a reminder, as was the death of Green list MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins last year, that there is an inequality in life expectancy statistics in New Zealand. Ms Kemp was a campaigner for Māori deprivation to be recognised and addressed, and that will be her political legacy.
Techday NZ
20-06-2025
- Techday NZ
Drone Forge secures record Flexrotor order with Airbus in Asia-Pacific
Drone Forge and Airbus Helicopters have signed an agreement for the purchase of six Flexrotor uncrewed aerial systems, totalling 17 aircraft, in the largest single order for the Flexrotor to date. The agreement specifies that the Flexrotor systems will be mission-ready and tailored to support a wide range of operational requirements within the Asia-Pacific region. These include littoral surveillance, high-altitude inland missions, infrastructure monitoring, and maritime environment assessment. Each Flexrotor unit will be equipped with a heavy fuel engine designed for maritime operations. This configuration is intended to enhance safety, ensure widespread fuel availability, and improve interoperability with naval assets in the field. Starlink connectivity will be integrated into the systems to facilitate beyond-line-of-sight operations and enable real-time situational awareness. Furthermore, the Flexrotor will incorporate PT-6 imaging technology. This technology provides stabilised, high-resolution capabilities for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, supporting efficient wide-area maritime monitoring. Thomas Symes, Chief Executive Officer of Drone Forge, emphasised the anticipated impact of the Flexrotor in new market segments. "We are fully convinced that the Flexrotor, built on a strong engineering heritage, will allow us to tap into new markets with a proven solution where real-time intelligence, mission flexibility and reliability matters," said Thomas Symes, Chief Executive Officer of Drone Forge. "We look forward to integrating and commercialising the Flexrotor systems in the region." The agreement is the follow-up to a recent Letter of Intent signed between Drone Forge and Airbus, establishing a framework for collaboration in the deployment and integration of the Flexrotor UAS in Asia-Pacific operations. Olivier Michalon, Executive Vice President of Global Business at Airbus Helicopters, highlighted the significance of the order for the company's partnership with Drone Forge. "The landmark order opens a new chapter in our partnership with Drone Forge, reinforcing our shared commitment to delivering cutting-edge crewed-uncrewed teaming capabilities to Asia-Pacific operators," said Olivier Michalon, Executive Vice President of Global Business at Airbus Helicopters. "With strong confidence in the Flexrotor's efficiency and reliability, this force multiplier will drive operational excellence in defence and security applications." The Flexrotor is the latest addition to the Airbus UAS portfolio. It is a modern Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) uncrewed aircraft with a maximum launch weight of 25 kg. It is designed for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions, with an operational endurance of over 12–14 hours under typical configurations. The system supports the integration of varying payloads, including electro-optical systems and advanced sensors that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of individual customers. Its autonomous launch and recovery capability is designed for operation from both land and sea, requiring only a 3.7 by 3.7 metre area for deployment, making it suitable for expeditionary missions that demand a minimal logistical footprint. With the agreement now in place, Drone Forge and Airbus Helicopters will move forward with the commercialisation and regional deployment of the Flexrotor systems in the Asia-Pacific market. The order marks a significant commitment to expanding the scope of uncrewed aerial systems in defence, security, and monitoring missions across the region.
NZ Herald
18-06-2025
- NZ Herald
Vietjet orders 100 Airbus A321neo planes
Vietnamese carrier Vietjet has ordered 100 single-aisle A321neo jets from Airbus, the European plane maker said in the latest deal announced at the Paris Air Show. The deal would be worth almost US$13 billion ($21.6b) under 2018 catalogue prices. It includes an option for Vietjet, Vietnam's largest private airline, to
