The Australian government has awarded $1.35m towards the Pegasus joint development project between V-TOL Aerospace, Li-S Energy, and Halocell. This marks the start of the fantastic journey towards the development of an all-day solar powered fixed-wing drone. The grand will enable the Australian partnership to develop a drone that integrates Li-S’ next generation batteries and Halocell’s advanced solar cells into a ‘dawn to dusk’ platform.

This is an exciting opportunity for Li-S Energy, working with our partners V-TOL Aerospace and Halocell, to demonstrate how our advanced, lightweight lithium sulfur and lithium metal batteries can extend UAV flight times and mission capability.

Lee Finniear, Li-S Energy CEO

This major success of foresight from the commonwealth will open the doors to a wide range of possibilities in drone technologies. Recent declines in technology advancements for multirotor drones and small-platform flight times has placed an artificial limitation on the range of operations that can be achieved from these platforms. V-TOL believes that this project will directly contribute to the advancement of long-range and long-duration BVLOS capabilities, especially for ISR and survey markets.

Winning this grant is a significant acknowledgement by Government that the work V-TOL, Li-S Energy, and HaloCell are conducting is of national importance. This exciting opportunity, will enable our sovereign technology collaboration to design, develop and manufacture a family of world leading energy sustainable drones.

Mark Xavier, V-TOL Aerospace Managing Director