Elroy Air · autonomous cargo aircraft
Chaparral C1
An uncrewed hybrid-electric vertical-takeoff cargo aircraft that carries a detachable cargo pod and is built to fly itself from pickup to drop-off.
- Price
- —not sold
- Autonomy
- DriverlessHow it runs
- Driverless
- TestingSince 2023
- Fleet
- —See details below
- Speed
- 212.0 km/hFaster than 100%
- Payload
- 227 kgCarries more than 33%
Why it matters
Elroy Air calls the 2023 first flight of the Chaparral C1 the world's first flight of a turbogenerator-hybrid aircraft.
Real-world use
First flight 2023; autonomous transition flights in December 2024; full hover-to-wingborne transition in July 2025; partners include the US Air Force, FedEx and NASA, with Kratos named as US manufacturer (Elroy Air).
Timeline
- First shown
- 2022-01-26
- Released
- Not yet
Maker
Elroy AirCompanyHow it drives
Fleet and city figures move fast; each carries its date and who reported it.
- Driverless status
- Driverless tests only
- Where it runs
- US flight test sites
- Driverless since
- 2023
- Fleet
- not published
How it stacks up
Against other cargo aircraft that publish the figure. Pick a measure.
Chaparral C1 is faster than 100% of the 3 other cargo aircraft that publish a speed. Bars show the 3 closest in date.
Chaparral C1 carries more than 33% of the 3 other cargo aircraft that publish a payload. Bars show the 3 closest in date.
Not published by the maker: height, weight, joints, battery, price.
Public attention
How much public attention Chaparral C1 gets, from open data.
- No Wikipedia article of its own yet
- No recent press stories listed yet
Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
No component details published yet.
- Movement
- Other movement
- How it runs
- Fully autonomous. Does its job with nobody at the controls.
From the maker
Chaparral C1 is the only vehicle from Elroy Air in the atlas.
Made, sold and where
No production or sales figures published yet.
- Price
- Not publishednot sold
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
Sources
Figures come from the maker. Every link below backs something on this page.
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