Japanese Leasing Group Backs Archer's Halo Utility Drone

Japanese leasing group Marubeni Aerospace is helping Archer Aviation find use cases for the Halo autonomous aircraft it unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow this week. The hybrid-electric model is part of a family of dual tiltrotor drones being developed by Archer and Anduril that also includes the Thunder military platform launched on July 20.

Archer has not confirmed any range or payload details for the Halo or Thunder, but said the hybrid-electric powertrain it has developed in-house will be sufficient “to support global self-deployment.”

Alternatively, the company explained, the aircraft can be packed into a standard shipping container for transport by air, road, rail, or sea, offering the multi-modal transport logistics required to reach where it needs to be.

The partners expect to begin test flights of the Thunder/Halo prototype in 2027, but have not said when they will begin deliveries. The companies said they have already flown what they described as “a full-scale surrogate aircraft.”

Based on the powertrain Archer developed for its four-passenger Midnight eVTOL air taxi, the series’ hybrid-electric powertrain drives the rotors directly from electric motors and features a turbogenerator. The propulsion system also includes wing-mounted optimum-speed tiltrotors that vary the revolutions per minute to maintain efficiency through different phases of flight, reducing power demand and fuel burn in cruise as well as reducing noise to avoid detection by hostile forces during low-altitude approaches.

"Over the past eight years we've engineered, tested, and scaled the technology this platform is built on,” said Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein. “The powertrain, the batteries, the motors, the manufacturing. We partnered with Anduril to take all of that knowledge and build something new: a clean-sheet aircraft in a completely different class of range, speed and payload.”

Archer envisages applications such as offshore energy support, freight deliveries, and humanitarian and medical support. The aircraft could also be deployed for various maritime missions.

"Currently, even in cargo transport operations that do not require onboard crew, flights are conducted with human pilots, absorbing the cost, scheduling constraints and human exposure that come with it," said Marubeni president and CEO Satoru Nakagawa. "Halo's unmanned, autonomous flight capabilities can address these challenges, and combined with its excellent range, payload capacity and VTOL capability, make it a highly suitable solution that we are pleased to introduce and support for our customers as a first strategic partner."