The world's most capable heavy lift UAVs:
Safer Wildfire Response, Faster Rescue Operations, Next-Gen Defense Platforms
We design heavy payload UAVs, able to up to 5 tons of cargo (water, food, medical supplies, industrial equipment, drone swarms), without putting humans in harm's way. Founded in 2025 by aerospace and AI software experts, Draune Air Services is estabished in the US, France and South Korea.
Up to 5 ton-payload. NDAA-compliant. Swarm ready.
VTOL-native
Draune’s VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) architecture combines the operational flexibility of helicopters with the efficiency and range of fixed-wing aircraft. The platform operates without runways, enabling deployment from austere, remote, or congested environments. Optimized aerodynamics, distributed lift propulsion, and reinforced structures allow safe vertical operations while carrying multi-ton payloads. Transition to forward flight significantly improves endurance and cruise efficiency, reducing operating costs and mission time. This VTOL design enables rapid response, precision delivery, and safe operations in complex terrain, making it ideally suited for firefighting, emergency logistics, and defense missions.
Hybrid Power
Draune’s hybrid power system integrates combustion engines with electric propulsion to deliver high peak power for vertical lift while maintaining efficient cruise performance. This architecture optimizes fuel consumption, extends range, and improves payload capacity compared to purely electric or conventional platforms. Intelligent power management dynamically allocates energy between generators and batteries, ensuring reliability, redundancy, and mission resilience. Hybrid propulsion also enables quieter operations during critical phases and supports future alternative fuels. The result is a robust, scalable power system capable of sustaining long-duration, heavy-lift missions in demanding operational environments.
Swarm ready
Draune platforms are designed from the outset to operate in coordinated swarm configurations. Each UAV is equipped with secure communications, autonomous navigation, and collaborative mission logic, enabling multiple aircraft to operate as a single distributed system. Swarm capability allows rapid scaling of payload delivery, parallel firefighting drops, or distributed logistics operations with minimal human oversight. Missions can be dynamically re-tasked in real time, improving resilience and operational efficiency. This swarm-ready architecture transforms individual UAVs into a force multiplier, delivering unprecedented flexibility, redundancy, and throughput for large-scale civil and defense operation
"We chose to do things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"
John F. Kennedy
Based in the US,South Korea and France, we are a trailblazer in the field of heavy payload UAVs.