South African inventor Robert Miller’s quest for the perfect wildlife conservation drone has led to the making of BushRanger 2M V1, a cutting-edge fixed-wing VTOL surveillance aircraft engineered specifically for the rugged and remote conditions of the Southern African Bushveld.

Now in its final testing phase and designed with wildlife crime prevention in mind, the BushRanger represents a breakthrough in modular, field-repairable unmanned systems, according to its creators.

The drone has a wingspan of 2,195mm (with an optional 500mm quick-swap wing extension coming soon) and its fuselage length is 1,607mm. It has a maximum take off wait of 9.5kg, with the capacity to carry payloads 2.2kg.

Miller said they were planning for more heavier payloads.

As for performance, the drone has a maximum speed of 30m/second and can stay for anything up to ninety minutes on a single battery charge, depending on payload and hover time.

“The BushRanger is uniquely adaptable, capable of operating as a VTOL, STOL, CTOL, or quadcopter,” Miller said.

“Its modular airframe is over 90 percent 3D printed in durable PA12 nylon using HP Multi Jet Fusion technology. This construction approach makes it both impact-resistant and easy to repair on-site—crucial for missions in remote conservation zones.

“The airframe’s rear-transition configuration features fixed front lift rotors aligned near the centre of gravity, along with offset tilting rear rotors that provide stable vertical lift and efficient forward thrust.”

The airframe was officially unveiled at XPONENTIAL 2025 in Texas on 20 May, in collaboration with HP Additive Manufacturing Solutions.

The drone was made by Miller and his team under the Tihlo Henhla (Tsonga word for “The Eye Above”) project, in collaboration with Telluraves Aerospace. The project plans to build unmanned aerial vehicles that will give wildlife proprietors a fighting chance against poachers in their quest to protect endangered species.

Aside from Telluraves Aerospace, other partners to the project include Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), International Crane Foundation (ICF), Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks, HP Additive Manufacturing Solutions, Mecad Systems, Sony, Hitec Group USA, CubePilot, AOC, Flying Robot, and Wham Bam Systems.

The Eye Above plans to deploy 15 BushRanger units across South Africa, working in partnership with conservation organisations to create guidelines for UAS integration into conservation missions. The project also focuses on rural upliftment through training and employment of local pilots and maintenance crews.

The first iteration of the drone was the Telluraves TR200 Raptor, an anti-poaching drone will be capable of flying for up to six hours while carrying a payload of 2,2kg (with the payload, the drone will have a total weight of 6,4kg).

According to Miller, the fixed-wing drone will be capable of taking off and landing vertically, autonomously executing planned missions; has built-in artificial intelligence for analysis of camera and sensor data and is able to autonomously identify and begin tracking a verified target.