Skyways Starts Production of Its Autonomous Skyreach Cargo Aircraft

Skyways announced Skyreach, its production autonomous vertical-takeoff-and-landing cargo aircraft, on November 9, 2026, and said manufacturing had started in Austin, Texas. Flights for existing defense and commercial customers are scheduled to begin in December 2026, with the aircraft designed to fly more than 1,300 miles with 10 pounds of cargo.

Originally developed as V3 Block 2, Skyreach is the production platform behind a $37 million STRATFI award from AFWERX, the Department of the Air Force’s innovation arm, in June 2025. The award funded V3’s transition from prototype toward full-rate production. Since then, Skyways has finalized the production design and advanced flight-qualification testing. New customers can reserve capacity.

Range Depends on Payload

The Skyreach specification sheet ties that range to a light load: more than 1,300 miles with 10 pounds of cargo, compared with more than 780 miles with 50 pounds. Maximum endurance is listed above 18 hours. The range figures assume level cruise at 70 knots true airspeed, a 2,000-foot density altitude, no wind and a 45-minute fuel reserve.

Cargo and fuel trade off within a 360-pound maximum gross takeoff weight, so the longest-range figure does not describe a maximum-payload flight. Skyways lists useful load, covering fuel and payload, at more than 100 pounds, an 86-pound fuel capacity and a 7-cubic-foot cargo bay.

The earlier award record supplies a baseline: V2 had a 30-pound useful load and a 500-mile maximum range, while the V3 program used the same autonomy stack. Skyreach therefore extends an existing aircraft and software line toward heavier loads and longer missions.

Hybrid Power and Modular Missions

The Skyreach product page describes eight electric motors for vertical lift and a two-stroke heavy-fuel cruise engine with an integrated generator. The generator recharges the lift battery in flight and powers avionics, sensors and payloads, allowing refueling without ground-side battery charging or swaps. Fuel compatibility covers Jet A, Jet A-1, JP-5 and JP-8.

For missions, Skyways lists a bay that can be reconfigured between flights for standard cargo, temperature-controlled blood, plasma and biologics, radar or optical sensors, and communications equipment, with up to 2.5 kilowatts of bay power. Its top-loading, bottom-release layout supports autonomous airdrops and tethered cargo delivery. The design is also intended for shipboard and austere environments, winds up to 40 knots and temperatures from minus 5 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scaling Plans and Flight-Test Status

Skyways describes onboard autonomy as handling flight navigation, mission execution and emergency maneuvers. SkyNav Mission Control covers route planning, flight execution and live supervision of aircraft, hubs and operators, presenting a one-operator-to-many-aircraft model in which direct routes can be repeated across a fleet.

Chief Executive Charles Acknin said the company aims to deploy more than 1,000 autonomous aircraft for defense and commercial customers within five years, with Skyways also estimating Skyreach’s cost at roughly one-tenth that of a helicopter.

Production is starting while development continues. The specification sheet labels its numbers “design specifications,” says Skyreach is in flight test and cautions that the figures are subject to change. The production design is finalized, but the performance figures remain provisional as customer flights approach.

The initial customer flights make repeatable service the next test: Skyreach’s range-payload tradeoffs, rapid-refueling design and one-to-many supervision need to hold up in operations to support the fleet scale Skyways is targeting.