and Australian UAV producer Carbonix are coming together to begin development and production the first Australian hydrogen-electric VTOL unmanned aircraft system . Carbonix is an Australian UAV manufacturer with unique expertise in advanced composite manufacturing, aerostructure design and sophisticated control systems for vertical and landing capabilities. H3 Dynamics has been working on cutting edge hydrogen UAV technology for over 15 years, and has just released a new ground-breaking hydrogen-electric nacelle technology.
Compared to batteries, hydrogen electric systems will increase flight durations by several orders of magnitude, matching the scale of the Australian continent, its low population density, and its globally unique experience in “beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) commercial drone operations.
Hydrogen-enabled range elongation will support Carbonix’ existing long distance linear inspection applications such as grid lines and pipelines, mining industry mapping and surveying across large expanses of land – which continue to rely on the use of expensive helicopters or light aircraft.
The newly announced partnership aligns with Australia’s broader hydrogen and decarbonization plans, in Carbonix key end-user markets such as mining and logistics, where passenger aircraft and helicopters, as well as battery or combustion engine drones are already being used – and could now be converted to using locally-produced hydrogen, further fueling the success of major Australian companies such as Fortescue.
Moving fast and starting now, H3 Dynamics will be integrating its off-the-shelf hydrogen systems to Carbonix’ existing fleet of small unmanned VTOL systems – enabling training and accelerating field experience.
“Creating intelligent long range aerial systems enabling reliable and effective access to critical remote data while respecting the environment is key to us,” said Philip Van der Burg, Carbonix CEO. “We will work with H3 Dynamics to complete the hydrogen value chain for several rapidly growing UAV segments, and to do it much more quickly – right here in Australia.”
