Elroy Air · Drones · 2022
An autonomous, hybrid-electric 'lift + cruise' VTOL cargo aircraft from San Francisco's Elroy Air, built to move freight to places without runways or airports. The Chaparral C1 carries 300-500 lb (136-227 kg) up to ~300 miles at roughly 125 knots, using twelve electric motors (eight for vertical lift, four for forward cruise) fed by a turbogenerator-battery architecture - a turbine tops up the batteries in flight, and the C1 was the world's first turbogenerator-hybrid hVTOL to fly (Nov 2023), completing its first point-to-point delivery in Dec 2025. Its full carbon-composite airframe rides fixed quadricycle gear that straddles a detachable modular cargo pod; the aircraft autonomously picks up and drops pods (express, heavy, humanitarian air-drop, climate-controlled/medical, ISR), creating a 'conveyor belt through the sky', and packs into a 40 ft container or C-130. It carries a backlog of ~1,500 preorders (~$3B) from FedEx, Bristow, LCI, AYR Logistics and the USAF, with Kratos as exclusive US manufacturer targeting 2026 production.
Price on application
View full interactive profile, comparisons & videos → Check price on Amazon →| Category | Drones |
| Sub-type | Autonomous Cargo VTOL (hybrid-electric) |
| Status | Active |
| Year | 2022 |
| Origin | USA |
| Frame | Full carbon composite |
| Payload | 227 kg |
| Max range | ~500 km km |
| Use cases | Autonomous cargo logistics, Middle-mile delivery |
| Made in | USA |
