Technology demonstrator · In ground test
Fifteen aircraft become one.
Technology Demonstrator 2.0 is the whole Zuri stack in one aircraft, designed to fly hover, transition, and cruise.
The aircraft
Built to prove everything at once.
Each aircraft before it proved a piece: transition at subscale, hover at full scale, the hybrid-electric powertrain on the bench. TD 2.0 integrates all of it, at full scale, with nothing left out.
The staged approach
What it proves becomes the product.
TD 2.0 is the proving aircraft. The uncrewed cargo aircraft is built on its airframe, its validated stack, and the data its campaign returns, in the configuration its mission demands.
The cargo aircraft earns in EASA's Specific category while revenue, not dilution, carries the six-seat vision toward its type certificate.
One architecture
Three aircraft, one architecture.
The demonstrator proves it, the cargo aircraft earns with it, the six-seater is why it exists.
The proving aircraft Technology Demonstrator 2.0 In ground test | The first product Uncrewed cargo aircraft In development | The vision Six-seat passenger aircraft Concept | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Load | 690 kg maximum takeoff weight | 115 kg payload, 145 kg maximum | A pilot and five passengers |
| Range | 200 to 250 km VFR | 679 km design range, 569 km with a full 30-minute reserve | 900 km on sustainable aviation fuel |
| Cruise | 200 km/h | 220 km/h, 240 km/h maximum | 350 km/h, 400 km/h maximum |
| Power | Piston engine: AVGAS, automotive gasoline, or bioethanol | Piston engine, the same flex fuel | Turbine, sustainable aviation fuel |
| Path to the sky | The flight-test campaign | EASA's Specific category (SORA) | Passenger type certificate, funded by cargo revenue |
TD 2.0 values under validation. The flight-test campaign confirms them.
The campaign
Ground test to first flight.
Proving moves in one direction: from the bench, to the Iron Bird, to the aircraft, to the air. Each stage runs until the next one is earned.
What the campaign validates
Hybrid powertrain
The generator and battery working as one supply, under real flight loads.
Tilt mechanism and transition
Rotors that lift straight up, then rotate and pull the wing into cruise.
Control laws
One set of software flying three regimes: hover, transition, wing-borne flight.
Energy management
Where every kilowatt goes in each phase of flight, measured, not modeled.
Redundancy
What fails, what takes over, and how the aircraft behaves when it happens.
Systems integration and Iron Bird validation are running now. The aircraft flies when ground test says it is ready.
Prague
Simulation to sky.
Every system flies in software before it flies in metal. The Iron Bird runs the real hardware, coupled, on the ground; what it measures feeds the digital twins back, so the model and the machine converge before first flight.
Design choices
Chosen on purpose.
All-metal, on purpose
Metal is quick to adapt, easy to inspect, and low-cost to iterate while the campaign is still teaching. Composites arrive later in the family, where certification economics reward them.
Eight rotors, all tilting
All eight rotors lift the aircraft straight up, then rotate and become cruise propellers. One propulsion set does both jobs, and nothing rides along as dead weight.
A redesigned tail
The empennage was rebuilt for forward-flight stability and less drag, because the aircraft spends most of its mission on the wing.
Gas-station fuel
The piston engine runs on AVGAS, regular automotive gasoline, or bioethanol. Wherever one of the three is already available, the aircraft refuels in minutes.
Frequently asked questions
About the demonstrator.
When does TD 2.0 fly?
First flight is planned for Q2 2027. Systems integration and ground test are running now in Prague, on the same floor the aircraft was built; the Iron Bird rig runs the powertrain and control laws together before anything leaves the ground. First flight is hover, and the campaign expands from there to transition and cruise.
What happens after first flight?
The flight-test campaign expands the envelope stage by stage: hover, transition, cruise. The airframe, the validated technology stack, and the data the campaign returns become the uncrewed cargo aircraft, with first deliveries planned in the 2027 to 2029 window.
Why is TD 2.0 all-metal?
Because a demonstrator exists to change. Metal is fast to modify, easy to inspect after every test, and low-cost to iterate. Composite construction arrives later in the aircraft family, where the design is settled and certification economics reward it.
Is TD 2.0 for sale?
No. TD 2.0 is a technology demonstrator: it proves the architecture. The product built on it is the uncrewed cargo aircraft, described on the aircraft page.
How does TD 2.0 relate to the aircraft Zuri has flown?
Every one of them proved a piece: subscale models flew transition, the 11-meter demonstrator held full-scale hover, bench rigs ran the powertrain. TD 2.0 integrates all of it in one full-scale aircraft. The dated record lives on the proof page.
Where is TD 2.0 built and tested?
In-house at Zuri’s research and development facility near Prague, by the team that designed it, on the same floor as the Iron Bird systems rig.
The record is public.
Every aircraft behind TD 2.0 is dated and photographed. The product they lead to is already specified.