Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) is set to start commercial testing for Condor, the company’s heavy-lift, long-range cargo delivery UAS. 

The beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) phase of testing will be held at the Foremost UAS Test Range in Alberta this summer, according to a news release. The company will receive a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) to operate these flights. 

The cargo delivery drone can lift 400 pounds of payload, travel a range of 200 kilometers and operate at 120 kilometers per hour. It is 22 feet long, 5 feet wide, 7 feet tall and has a rotor diameter of about 20 feet. 

Condor is capable of vertical takeoff and landing and comes equipped with the company’s proprietary FLYTE management system, which is airframe agnostic and can be integrated into future DDC drones or other rotary or fixed-wing aircraft. The system’s multi-package payload compartment is designed to carry about 20 cubic feet of cargo.

“Market response to the Condor has been overwhelmingly strong,” DDC President and CEO Michael Zahra said, according to the release. “The capabilities of the Condor simply address many social (medical, pharmaceutical, remote communities, humanitarian aid, etc) and economic (mining, oil and gas, courier, etc) use cases being requested by DDC’s customers. These requests are happening globally. Based on direct market feedback, this will be a game-changer for the company, our customers and the industry overall.”