China’s United Aircraft Advances R6000 Civil Tiltrotor

Chinese uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) developer United Aircraft Group is moving into new territory with the Lanying R6000, a 12-seat civil tiltrotor that represents the company’s most ambitious design yet. 

Speaking with AIN at the Singapore Airshow earlier this month, Wang Fei, United Aircraft’s head of intelligent systems, said the company hopes to obtain a type certificate for the R6000 from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) by the end of this year. Flight testing began on Dec. 28, 2025, in Deyang City, Sichuan Province.  

According to Wang, the prototype has yet to achieve a transition flight—the complex maneuver in which a tiltrotor or tiltwing VTOL aircraft shifts from a hover into wingborne forward flight. He acknowledged that the transition flight could be the program’s biggest technical hurdle. For comparison, Leonardo’s as-yet-uncertified AW609 tiltrotor didn’t achieve its first transition flight until two years after its first hover test. 

United Aircraft has been using recent international airshows to introduce the R6000 to customers outside China. At the Singapore Airshow, the company also highlighted other rotorcraft designs in its lineup, including the Boying T1400 tandem-rotor uncrewed helicopter, as well as some smaller drones that are already being used for food and package deliveries, agricultural spraying, and firefighting operations in parts of China.

In addition to the passenger model, which would seat between six and 12 people, United Aircraft is offering the R6000 for cargo, emergency response, and medevac applications. The company cites a maximum takeoff weight of 6,100 kilograms, a payload capacity of up to 2,000 kilograms, and 7.6 cubic meters of cargo space. It has a cruise speed of 550 kph (300 knots), a range of about 4,000 kilometers, and a service ceiling of 7,620 meters (25,000 feet).

The dual-rotor aircraft is configured with two turboshaft engines installed in short nacelles at the wingtips, each with a 17.5-meter (24 feet) rotor. Its rotor arrangement resembles the Bell V-280 Valor approach, which tilts the rotors rather than rotating entire engine nacelles, in contrast to the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey architecture. However, the closest comparison remains Leonardo’s AW609, a civil tiltrotor in the smaller eight-ton class aimed primarily at passenger and special-mission roles. 

China's First Tiltrotor

If the company succeeds in certifying the aircraft under CAAC rules, the R6000 would represent one of the first large-scale civil tiltrotors developed entirely in China and among the few positioned for heavy uncrewed logistics operations.

Founded in 2012, United Aircraft has increased its international visibility over the past year. The company debuted a 1:10 scale model of the R6000 at the Paris Air Show in June 2025 and again showcased it at the 2026 Singapore Airshow. At the 2025 Dubai Airshow, United Aircraft said it received orders for up to 1,600 heavy-lift industrial drones from undisclosed customers in the UAE, South Korea, and other countries. 

The company initially built its reputation in electric-control coaxial unmanned helicopters. One of its early products, the TD220, first flew in 2013 and was later deployed in customs and public-security applications. The company subsequently scaled up its offerings with the TD550, optimized for high-altitude operations, and then the T1400, a large tandem-rotor uncrewed helicopter that achieved first flight in October 2025.

United Aircraft is also considering an initial public offering as early as next year, according to Reuters, with potential listing windows in 2027 or 2028 as it seeks to fund continued development and international expansion.