This is not a prototype, this is not demo. This is deployment. Every mission flown. Every lesson learned. All of it went into our next generation platform. The first of the fleet deploys 11 / 26. #Aviation #Aerospace #Defense

This autonomous aircraft can already fly from Texas to Canada (if not much longer). Angel invested in @skyways early on and it’s been amazing to see the progress! LFG

Our new aircraft is being unveiled. Years in the making. Years of flight testing across 3 generations of V3 alone. All leveraging everything we’ve learned flying V2 with our customers on 3 continents, with the same avionics and software that we know works. It will be one of the most capable unmanned aircraft on the planet, if not the most.

Every Skyways aircraft is shaped by the mission. Every single spec the direct result of an operational requirement, failure, or friction point from 9 years and 3,550+ missions. Now the next form is taking shape. This series will take you on the journey to deploy the first of a fleet. Chapter 1: Building Blocks: In Austin, the team gets to work. Nothing on this aircraft was guessed. Everything has been earned. #Deployment #Aviation #Aerospace #NewPlatform

Drew Talley, Skyways' Head of Flight Operations, has been named to the Unmanned Safety Institute's first Industry Advisory Board. USI has spent more than a decade training thousands of students for the UAS workforce. Its twelve inaugural board members will help keep that training aligned with what employers need and what operators encounter on the job. Drew brings experience from the U.S. Army and years of UAS operations over pipelines and energy infrastructure. He joined Skyways as a Senior Flight Operator last November and was leading the department by June. Skyways has been flying autonomously since 2017. Its in-house flight-operations software, SkyNav, is built so a single operator can supervise many aircraft at once. Operators run every mission through it, complete a checklist before each flight, and make the decision to launch. Drew hires and leads the operators this training is designed to prepare. He'll bring that experience to USI's board. Congratulations, Drew Talley.

I think cargo drones get way more interesting the moment the customer stops being another drone company / defense demo and becomes a boring logistics giant. DSV is putting @skyways autonomous aircraft into offshore logistics in the North Sea this fall. and the architecture is almost the opposite of the tiny battery-delivery-drone direction: V2: 450 mile range ~8 hour endurance 30 lb payload Jet A-1 / JP-5 V3 in testing: 1,000+ mile range ~20 hour endurance 100 lb payload basically a small autonomous airplane optimized around the question: what cargo is expensive enough to move that sending an aircraft is cheaper than waiting for a ship/helicopter/truck? offshore wind + oil rigs are such a good proving ground for this. A €300 replacement part can hold up equipment worth millions, while the destination is literally sitting in the ocean. And I really like the deployment model here: Skyways supplies aircraft + autonomy + training + maintenance support. DSV supplies local flight staff and works the regulatory problem. That's probably how autonomous aviation actually scales. not “remove every human.” make one human capable of operating an absurd amount of aviation.

PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT @skyways is partnering with @DSV_global, the world’s largest freight forwarding and logistics company, on commercial logistics for offshore energy operations. DSV selected Skyways after an extensive market evaluation, citing our aircraft’s range, payload capacity and operational maturity. The initial deployment from Norden, Germany, this fall will introduce the German North Sea’s first commercial long-range autonomous resupply service, bringing critical equipment and supplies to offshore wind turbines and energy platforms on demand. We expect the service to scale as V3 B2 is deployed. Visit the comments section to read the full announcement. #Aviation #Logistics

Two Skyways V2 aircraft rehearsed a ship-to-shore resupply run for the @USNavy aboard USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201), a Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler. The problem appears small. A @USMC unit ashore needs a part, the ship offshore has it, someone has to bring it. By the Navy's count, nine of every ten of its logistics deliveries weigh under 50 pounds. Normally, as NAWCAD describes it, a part waits for the next day's helicopter or the next underway replenishment. Time is expensive, and some missions can't afford the wait. In June 2023, off North Carolina, Skyways flew that run in Fleet Battle Problem 23-1. Over two days the aircraft did it five times: three ship-to-shore legs, two shore-to-ship. In the Navy's release, Military Sealift Command's Taluga Group director called it "the first integration of a logistics drone into a Fleet exercise." NAWCAD's director of rapid prototyping said the unmanned effort could do it "literally within hours." The takeoff, the transit, and the shore landing shown here took 19 minutes, flight deck to landing zone. Then the offload. Three years later, this Friday, the flight log stands at: 3,545+ flights 1,035+ flight hours 86,035+ kilometers The log has passed 1,000 flight hours. This is Skyways Flight Fridays.

This one isn't staying in Texas. It's off to deliver cargo in Europe. At our Flight Testing Facility in Bastrop County, the Skyways V2 ran the gauntlet, lap after lap, takeoff after takeoff. Who it flies for next is a story for another [Fri]day. This Friday, the flight log stands at: 3,520+ flights 995+ flight hours 82,345+ kilometers This is Skyways Flight Fridays. #Aviation #Vtol #drone #flighttest #aerospace

Thousands of flights got us here. Now we scale. Check out @IntEngineering's feature on Skyways. If you are ready to see your work fly, come join the team in Austin, Texas.

This Labor Day, we are celebrating the Skyways team, who got us to 80,700+ kilometers. Laid end to end, more than two laps around the world. Every one of those kilometers has people behind it. Engineers who designed the aircraft, the systems. Technicians who keep them running. Operators who fly them. We hope you are enjoying the holiday. Thank you for the hard work. Happy Labor Day to all. #laborday

You asked to see the aircraft land on a ship. Here it is. For the @USNavy, finding and landing on the right moving ship without requiring the vessel to broadcast its location opens up more mission possibilities, especially for autonomous resupply at sea. Earlier demonstrations relied on a beacon aboard the receiving ship. Computer Vision Ship Intercept (CVSI) moves that work onto the aircraft, using onboard cameras to pick out the ship on the horizon and deck markings to guide the final approach. This flight was part of CVSI development in the Gulf of America in September 2023. Just one landing out of so many more. This Friday, the flight log stands at: 3,500+ flights 975+ flight hours 80,335+ kilometers This is Skyways Flight Fridays.

The @skyways V2 took off in Arkansas carrying ten units of porcine whole blood for a simulated endurance mission. Six hours and 313 miles later, the blood remained between 1 and 6 degrees Celsius inside the aircraft's temperature-controlled payload bay. That was March 27, 2024, during a @DIU_x demonstration for III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), the United States Marine Corps' (@EUSM_USMC) forward expeditionary force in the Indo-Pacific. The results were later published in Military Medicine. Severe bleeding is a leading cause of preventable combat death, and faster access to blood improves survival. Moving it without breaking the cold chain or putting aircrew aboard is the mission Skyways is built for. We are ready. This Friday, the flight log stands at: 3,400+ flights 875+ flight hours 72,970+ kilometers Enjoy Skyways Flight Fridays.

3,340+ flights 800+ flight hours 67,890+ kilometers Update from our Flight Testing Facility in Bastrop County, Texas. This is Skyways Flight Fridays.