Flexrotor is a Group 2 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) with combat proven performance on land and at sea. Compact, expeditionary, and highly autonomous, Flexrotor delivers long-endurance intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities for a wide range of civil and commercial applications.
With thousands of hours of flight time, Flexrotor has been deployed in a variety of challenging environments around the world and is the solution of choice for a broad customer portfolio of government agencies, defense forces, and commercial entities.
Long-endurance capabilities with a minimal logistical footprint
Providing 12 to 14 hours or more of flight time in its typical configuration, the Flexrotor UAS delivers unmatched range and endurance for its class. The expeditionary UAS is highly suited to both land-based and maritime missions and offers fully autonomous operation during VTOL maneuvers and wing-borne flight.
Thanks to its compact and modular design, Flexrotor is highly transportable and can be operated from a single vehicle or small vessel. It can be fueled, set up and airborne in less than 30 minutes, requiring no special LRE (launch and recovery equipment) and only a 3.7 m × 3.7 m (12 ft × 12 ft) operating area.
Rugged construction & versatile multi-mission utility
Flexrotor is engineered for rugged, multi-mission performance in the world’s most challenging environments. Designed to operate in wind gusts up to 27 knots and tested at extreme temperatures and high altitudes, it delivers reliable performance across land and maritime domains.
With a best-in-class payload mass fraction and endurance among Group 2/3 UAS, Flexrotor offers exceptional operational efficiency—requiring less fuel, generating less noise, and minimizing logistical burden. Its 28cc two-stroke engine runs on either gasoline or heavy fuel, further simplifying supply chain needs.
The aircraft supports seamless plug-and-play integration with a wide range of sensors, including EO/MWIR/LWIR cameras, SIGINT/ELINT systems, AIS, and wide-area search technologies. With a generous 8 kg payload capacity and support for digital turrets and interchangeable sensor packages, Flexrotor is built not only for today’s ISR missions but also to accommodate the advanced payloads of tomorrow.
Flexrotor Features and Specification
Key Features
- VTOL Launch & Recovery in confined 3.7 m × 3.7 m spaces (12 ft x 12 ft) — no runway required
- Autonomous Operation from launch through VTOL and wing-borne phases of flight
- Typical Endurance: 12–14 hours (up to 30+ hours in optimized configurations)
- Payload Agnostic: Supports interchangeable payloads and digital turrets
- Compact: Packs down into 50 kg case; easily fits in a pickup bed or ship deck
- Rapid Assembly: Launch-ready in under 30 minutes
- Efficient: Combines the thrust-borne capability of a helicopter with the wing-borne efficiency of a powered sailplane
- Covert: Inaudible at 500 m
- Engine: 28 cc 2 stroke; gasoline and heavy fuel capable
Mission Applications
Land-Based ISTAR
Flexrotor gives defense forces a tactical edge during vital operations such as intelligence-gathering, surveillance, and border patrol, providing decisive situational awareness that leads to superior decision-making and successful mission outcomes.
Maritime ISTAR
The versatile UAS also excels at sea, with long-endurance capabilities that provide continuous coverage of vast areas of water for naval and maritime missions such as surveillance, fleet protection, and coastal monitoring.
ELINT & SIGINT
Flexrotor can be equipped with a range of ELINT and SIGINT equipment to create a long-endurance and discreet data collection platform that can detect and track electronic emissions and communications, providing vital insights for intelligence, electronic warfare, and situational awareness.
Emergency Response
Thanks to its rapid deployment capabilities and versatile payload integration, Flexrotor is ideal for first responder, firefighting, search and rescue, and disaster management applications, providing critical aerial data that allows ground teams to work more effectively.
Infrastructure Monitoring
Flexrotor is also highly suited to monitoring and inspection of long corridors or large areas of infrastructure and utilities such as roads, railways, power lines and pipelines, providing hours of endurance and getting more work done in a single flight.
Manufacturing & Support
Flexrotor is manufactured at Airbus U.S. facilities in Bingen, Washington, where it is supported by a dedicated team of UAS experts. Backed by Airbus’s global engineering resources and logistics network, the program benefits from robust design, precision manufacturing, and comprehensive lifecycle support to ensure mission readiness.
