5-tonne capacity cargo drone on the way
It could be two years away yet; but the days of cargo drone company Dronamics being the lone provider of middle-distance unmanned cargo deliveries could be over soon.
The follows the launch last Friday of the W5000, a cargo drone is reported to have the capacity to carry 5,000kg of cargo at one go.
The drone was launched in Changzhou, Jiangsu province by Chinese aviation start-up Air White Whale.
Which here we thought was an opportunity missed because – what with the drone potentially becoming the largest unmanned cargo carrier in the world – they could have named their product The Whale instead of wasting it on the company header.
In a statement, Air White Whale said the W5000 is a twin-turboprop drone with a maximum take-off weight of 10.8 metric tons, a payload capacity of five tonnes and an inner cargo space of more than 65 cubic meters.
The aircraft is about 22.9 meters long and has a wingspan of 22.7 meters. It is capable of flying 2,600 kilometres in a single flight.
The company also claims its drone is highly economical, with transportation costs that are about 60 percent of any manned cargo plane with a similar carrying capacity; and each ground crew can operate up to seven such drones at the same time.
In his statement at the launch ceremony, the Beijing-based start-up’s chairman and CEO Hu Zhendong said his company is convinced that large cargo drones will become a pillar in the airfreight transportation industry in the future, due to their high operational efficiency and competitive costs.
The W5000’s airworthiness certification application has been submitted to the Civil Aviation Administration of China for review and approval, and the first model is expected to be delivered to its user in 2026, the company said.
The drone will be able to reach southeast and central Asian nations, as well as Russia and Japan. Several foreign nations such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan have signed intent orders, the company said.
While Air White Whale has not named a launch customer, the launch ceremony to mark production of the first aircraft was attended by executives from cargo and logistics firms including JD.com and China Eastern Airlines Logistics, as well as China Post.
Founded in 2021, Air White Whale’s management board comprises former executives from Comac, Airbus China and GE Aviation.
The introduction of the W5000 on middle distance cargo drone market takes the total number of service providers active at the moment to three. Other global cargo drone companies include US-based Natilus, which is developing a 3.8-tonne payload UAV named Kona.
The Californian company is also developing Alisio – a 60-ton payload medium/long range UAV, and Nordes – a 100-ton payload long-range UAV and Bulgaria-headquartered Dronamics.
But Dronamics is the most widely know company in the game right now, having launched its Black Swan cargo drone in 2022.
The Black Swan has a payload of 350kg and a space capacity of 3.5 cubic metres.
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