SwissDrones Operating AG and its subsidiary Xplorate Pacific Pty Ltd are expanding their combined aircraft-to-intelligence platform into the United States, the companies announced August 7. The move brings a long-range, turbine-powered uncrewed helicopter system — already flying commercial beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) missions in Australia — to the U.S. energy and utility inspection market.
An aircraft-plus-services model
SwissDrones, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Zurich with manufacturing in Buchs, Switzerland, builds the SDO 50, a commercially available long-endurance uncrewed helicopter designed to carry industrial sensor payloads including LiDAR, RGB and multispectral systems. Xplorate Pacific operates that aircraft under Australian BVLOS approvals, pairing the hardware with regulatory expertise, trained flight-operations personnel and data-processing workflows.
The companies are positioning the offering as more than an aircraft sale. Larry Berkin, Group CEO, said industrial customers need a complete operating capability combining aircraft performance, regulatory approvals, personnel and data delivery, and that the SDO 50 serves that mission today while the next-generation SD120 is being developed to extend it further.
Track record in Queensland
Xplorate Pacific already runs recurring commercial BVLOS inspection flights with the SDO 50 along a 550-kilometer pipeline corridor in Queensland. The company holds a broad-area BVLOS authorization from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority covering roughly 58,000 square kilometers of the Surat Basin — an area comparable in size to Switzerland — first granted in October 2025 under CASA instrument CASA.BVLOS.0097. That authorization supports day and night operations across pipelines, well sites, processing facilities and powerlines. Xplorate has since added a second CASA authorization for the Cooper Basin, effective through March 2029, extending its footprint across an active grid spanning roughly 560 kilometers north-south by 740 kilometers east-west along the South Australia-Queensland border.
Entering a shifting U.S. regulatory landscape
The U.S. expansion arrives while the Federal Aviation Administration works through its Part 108 rulemaking, intended to replace the current case-by-case BVLOS waiver system with a standardized framework for routine operations. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register in August 2025 following an executive order directing the FAA to act; a reopened comment period on right-of-way and electronic-conspicuity provisions closed in February 2026. As of early July 2026, the rule had reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for final review, the last major step before publication, with no final rule yet issued.
SwissDrones and Xplorate said U.S. programs will proceed under applicable FAA approvals as they build out commercial, regulatory and customer-support capabilities domestically. Berkin said the companies intend to approach the U.S. market program by program, with safety, regulatory compliance and customer requirements determining each operating model.
The next aircraft
SwissDrones is also developing the SD120, a next-generation uncrewed helicopter aimed at industrial, public-safety and government missions, with a design target of increased payload, endurance, redundancy and system assurance. Lukas Obrist, the company’s chief technology officer, said the SD120 builds on the operating experience and engineering foundation developed through the SDO 50, with the objective of increasing mission capability and system assurance while meeting demanding regulatory and customer requirements. The aircraft is being engineered to support operations targeting SAIL IV under the European Specific Operations Risk Assessment framework, an operational-risk classification rather than an aircraft certification. SwissDrones has not disclosed a target certification or commercial-availability date for the SD120.
SwissDrones and Xplorate are backed by an investor group that includes Chevron Technology Ventures, DiamondStream Partners, Longbow Capital and Ingleside Investors.
