By Vaibhav Agrawal
Natilus, a Californian startup, is reinventing the 75-year-old status quo of freight transportation through innovation and advanced technologies to make air freight costs competitive to cargo shipping and dramatically improve delivery times.
The company has designed a blended-wing, autonomous global air freight system, which is touted to pack in 60% more cargo than an aircraft of the same size.
Capable of carrying loads of up to 3,855 kg (8,500 lb), The model, dubbed as “The Natilus N3.8T”, has enough space for far more cargo inside than a traditional aircraft of the same weight while it is equipped with a range of 1,667 km (1,035 miles).
Along with a blended wing-body design and remote piloting, the use of standardized containers (LD3) is one of the UAV’s features.
The model shall have an MTOW of 8,618 kg (19,000 lb), while it will be the first model to roll off the rank for Natilus.
For supporting product development from concept through manufacturing and certification, Natilus is using Siemens NX™products. The use of these products enables Natilus engineers to reduce its development times for the groundbreaking Blended Wing Body (BWB) prototype by half.
Volatus Aerospace has secured the delivery of next-generation Natilus long-distance cargo drones, with the first production run of the craft expected in 2025. Volatus Aerospace activities include specialized public safety services, pilot training, UAV sales, drone delivery and enterprise operations.
