Rostec to Kick-start Serial Production of Robotic Convertiplanes

Rostec’s Roselektronika and Aeroxo, a Russian start-up, are planning to begin serial production of robotic convertiplanes, the type of aircraft that utilizes rotor power for vertical takeoff and landing and converts to fixed-wing lift in normal flight.

Applications include transportation of goods, control of ice conditions in the Far North, as well as as part of complex projects for monitoring extended facilities of critical infrastructure, Rostec said in a statement Wednesday.

A corresponding agreement was signed by Vyacheslav Mikheev, General Director of the Vega group of the holding of Ruselectronika, and Eldar Razroev, General Director of Aeroxo.

“The unmanned aerial vehicles market is growing rapidly. At the same time, the convertiplanes are one of the most promising types of UAVs. The combination of the advantages of a copter and an airplane makes them versatile and capable of performing a very wide range of tasks, which allows them to claim a tangible market share. By 2025, we forecast revenue growth in this segment to 1 billion rubles per year. The combination of competencies in the field of development and production allows us to accelerate the achievement of these goals,”said Vyacheslav Mikheev. 

At the first stage, at the Vega facilities, Era family drones-convertiplanes developed by Aeroxo will be mass-produced. They have the ability to stay in the air for more than 3 hours and carry a payload of up to 7kg. A tiltrotor with a lifting capacity of up to 80kg is also being developed to solve logistics problems. 

“The cooperation of Vega and Aeroxo will allow companies to take a large share of the existing market for unmanned aerial systems and enter new markets. The expertise that Vega possesses will help adapt existing solutions for new applications and, in a short time, launch serial production of new unmanned systems based on convertible plans,”said Eldar Razroev. 

A tiltrotor is an aircraft with rotary engines that, when taking off and landing, operate as lifting (like a helicopter or a copter), and in horizontal flight they become “aircraft” - pulling or pushing, as a result of which it does not need a runway or a specialized launch system.