Light Cavalry solar drone flies without a runway for 30 hours

What is the Light Cavalry drone?

It runs on solar power alone, and its designers say that allows up to 30 hours in the air without a break. It is 3.2 m long with a 7.9 m wingspan, weighs 50 kg at takeoff and can climb to a ceiling of 7,000 m. It can carry more than 5 kg of swappable payload, such as optical sensors, communications gear or detection systems.

What is it for?

The target is commercial work: long inspections of infrastructure, monitoring of water resources and assessing damage after natural disasters. A long time aloft means one mission can cover a bigger area and collect data faster.

The portable launcher is the practical trick. Mountains, coastlines and uninhabited areas rarely have airstrips, and a drone that can start from almost anywhere suits places where a quick response matters.

Why it differs from other solar drones

Until now, solar drones have mostly been large or very large aircraft, used in experiments or as so-called pseudo-satellites, meaning high-flying platforms that stay up for long periods. Light Cavalry is a lighter machine aimed at low-altitude commercial flights. The idea is longer working time over wide areas and a smaller carbon footprint for such missions.