- Equipped with 33ft (10m) booms and a 110 gallon (500l) capacity tank the new Sprayhawk drone is being classed as the biggest agri spray drone on the market. Chris McCullough reports.
Designed and developed by Rotor Technologies Inc, based in New Hampshire, USA, this new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has just been released onto the market with a hefty introductory price tag of $900,000.
The machine is actually based on a full sized Robinson R44 helicopter, and is fully controlled by a two man operator crew on the ground.
With a spray rate of 240 acres per hour, the Sprayhawk can take off and land vertically. It features autonomous spray path and terrain following algorithms, as well as camera and LIDAR sensors for detecting wires and avoiding obstacles.
Powering the Sprayhawk is a Lycoming six-cylinder aviation engine that can propel a spray rate to over 80 miles per hour. It boasts a flight time of 50 minutes between refuelling.
Impressively, the Sprayhawk matches the spray speed and capacity of manned aircraft, while offering significantly lower operating costs and improved safety.
Rotor’s CEO Hector Xu said: “The Sprayhawk represents a significant leap forward in agricultural aviation. We’ve combined the capabilities of a full-scale helicopter with the cost-effectiveness and safety of a drone. There’s nothing else on the market that’s as productive, reliable, and future-proof as this.”
Rotor was founded by a team of MIT aerospace engineers and aerospace industry veterans. The company manufactures the most capable commercial UAVs in the world, designed for challenging and dangerous missions like crop dusting, aerial firefighting, and utility work.
The company says its first Sprayhawk production aircraft has been completed and is undergoing ground testing ahead of delivery to an agricultural partner in the US Midwest later this year.
The first batch of production Sprayhawks will be delivered to early-access partners throughout spring 2025 and are expected to begin commercial spraying operations in the 2025 corn run.
Customers in the US and Brazil will be able to place orders first for the 2025 Sprayhawks with a limited number of 15 aircraft scheduled for the first production run.
Each customer will receive a ready-to-spray pack which includes the Sprayhawk UAV, a 110-gallon tank and 33-foot spray boom system, a helicopter transport trailer, and a ground control station.
Rotor Chief Commercial Officer Ben Frank said: “We think that the Sprayhawk is the right path forward for US farmers and aerial applicators.
“Many of the agricultural drones on the market today are unlikely to stand the test of time. The need for larger and more reliable aircraft is clear and our aggressive introductory pricing for the 2025 model year is designed to speed up adoption.”
Rotor offers training, maintenance plans, and regulatory support to Sprayhawk customers to ensure seamless deployment in any agricultural setting.
Also developed by Rotor for 2025 is its Airtruck, a drone with a carrying capacity of over 450kgs, also priced under $1m.
Again based on the Robinson R44 full-scale helicopter, and like the SprayHawk, this sister aircraft also has a maximum take-off weight of 1,133kgs.
Hector Xu added: “With the unveiling of the Airtruck and Sprayhawk, we’re excited to bring drone manufacturing back to the United States, by being bigger, bolder, and more innovative than our global competition.
“These two aircraft bear unprecedented capability that will be transformative for drone operators, who for many years have wanted longer flight times and larger payloads.”
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