Skyways claims 1,300-mile cargo drone at a tenth of helicopter cost

Texas startup Skyways says its new Skyreach cargo drone can fly more than 1,300 miles (2,092 km) on a single mission for roughly one tenth of the cost of a chartered helicopter. The company puts current operating cost at about US$300 per hour, and CEO Charles Acknin told Tectonic he wants that figure at $100 once the aircraft gains more autonomy.

The 1,300-mile headline carries conditions that procurement and logistics managers should read closely. It assumes a 10-lb (4.5-kg) payload, one way, at a steady 70-knot (130-km/h) cruise with no wind and 45 minutes of fuel in reserve. With 50 lb (23 kg) on board, the company's spec sheet puts range at about 780 miles (1,255 km). At 80 lb (36 kg), it falls to roughly 280 miles (450 km). Skyways notes these are design figures that may change during flight testing.

Why range collapses so fast

The mechanism is simple weight arithmetic. Skyreach tops out at 360 lb (163 kg) at takeoff and can carry about 100 lb (45 kg) of fuel and cargo combined. Every pound of payload is a pound of fuel left behind. The aircraft is the production version of the design behind a $37-million US Air Force contract, awarded through AFWERX in June 2025 to reach full-rate production.

How the aircraft works

Skyreach is a hybrid VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) design. Eight electric motors lift it off the ground like a multicopter. A two-stroke heavy-fuel engine then takes over for cruise, burning the same jet fuel used by airports and armed forces, which removes the need for separate fuel supply chains. An on-board generator recharges the batteries in flight, so crews never plug in or swap packs between missions.

The airframe has a 22-ft (6.7-m) wingspan and a 7-cu-ft (198-L) cargo bay that loads from the top and opens at the bottom. That geometry lets the drone airdrop a package or lower it on a tether without landing. The company rates it for winds up to 40 knots and temperatures from -5 to 120 °F (-21 to 49 °C). With the lightest load, it can stay airborne for more than 18 hours.

Skyways has not published a purchase price, nor has it named the helicopter behind its one-tenth cost comparison — a gap worth probing before any fleet comparison.

What is flying today

Skyreach replaces the smaller V2, which has done real commercial work. In 2025 the V2 made cargo runs to RWE's Arkona wind farm in the Baltic Sea, and Skyways has since signed a logistics partnership with freight forwarder DSV.

On launch day, Skyways and Shell announced that the FAA has cleared a V2 to fly beyond visual line of sight (flight past the operator's unaided view, requiring regulatory waiver) from Gibson, Louisiana, to an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico, inspecting a pipeline and simulating a cargo drop en route. The FAA calls it a first-of-its-kind authorization. The flight itself has not happened yet.

On the defense side, the company says the V2 has already flown missions for the US Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

What comes next

Skyways says it has started production in Austin, Texas, and will begin flying Skyreach with defense and commercial customers in December. "Our ambition is to deploy a network of over 1,000 autonomous aircraft for defense and commercial customers within five years," Acknin said.

That is a projection, not a measured result; the range and endurance figures cited above are design numbers still subject to flight testing. For operators weighing Skyreach against a helicopter charter, the decision will hinge on payload: at 80 lb, the drone covers 280 miles, which is a different product from the 1,300-mile aircraft in the launch materials.