Chocks Away for Drone Deliveries

As the potential for unmanned aerial vehicles to become involved in freight grows, Californian start-up Natilus looks ready for take-off, as chief executive Aleksey Matyushev tells Rebecca Jeffrey.

In a market seeing unprecedented freighter demand there is one company that has racked up $6bn in orders before its pilot unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aircraft has even launched.

California-based start-up Natilus has designed four high-volume UAVs ranging from 3.8 tons to 130 tons, with the goal of reducing airfreight costs by 60%.

Developed for e-commerce, the UAVs have been designed to offer 40-60% more volume than a traditional two-wing aircraft, says Aleksey Matyushev, chief executive, co-founder and one half of the brains behind the company.

Matyushev is an aerodynamicist by trade with an aerospace engineering skillset that has proved valuable for the development of the N3.8T, a 3.8 ton payload short-haul feeder UAV; the N60T, a 60 ton payload medium/long-range UAV; the N100T, a 100 ton payload long-range UAV; and the N130T, a 130 ton payload long-range UAV.

Read the entire article on Cargo News Quarterly, Summer 2022 Edition.