Australian UAV manufacturer Carbonix has ventured into a partnership with aviation company H3 Dynamics to begin the development of Australia’s first hydrogen-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
Carbonix is one of Australia’s leading UAV manufacturers, delivering unique expertise in advanced composite manufacturing, aerostructure design, and sophisticated control systems for vertical and landing capabilities.
H3 Dynamics has been in the cutting-edge hydrogen UAV tech industry for more than 15 years and recently launched its hydrogen-electric nacelle technology.
Compared with batteries, hydrogen electric systems offer increased flight durations by several orders of magnitude, matching the scale of the Australian continent, its low population density and its globally unique experience in “beyond visual line of sight” commercial drone operations.
The increased range will support Carbonix’s existing long-distance linear inspection applications, such as grid lines and pipelines, mining industry mapping, and surveying across large expanses of land, which continue to rely on the use of costly helicopters or light aircraft.
As part of the partnership, H3 Dynamics will also begin integrating its off-the-shelf hydrogen systems into Carbonix’s existing fleet of small unmanned VTOL systems, providing training and accelerating field experience.
“Creating intelligent long-range aerial systems enabling reliable and effective access to critical remote data while respecting the environment is key to us,” said Philip Van der Burg, Carbonix CEO. “We will work with H3 Dynamics to complete the hydrogen value chain for several rapidly growing UAV segments, and to do it much more quickly— right here in Australia.”
The partnership also aligns with Australia’s broader hydrogen and decarbonisation plans, H3 Dynamics said in a media release.
Manufacturing and assembly of the VTOL UAS will be performed in Australia in close collaboration with ASX-listed company Quickstep, Australia’s largest independent aerospace composite company.
Quickstep has an ongoing development program designed for intelligent composite hydrogen solutions, which could also be used in H3 Dynamics’ hydrogen fuel cell nacelles for hydrogen flight.
