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Airbus Zephyr
Series of lightweight solar-powered UAV

The Zephyr is a series of high-altitude platform station aircraft produced by Airbus. They were designed originally by QinetiQ, a commercial offshoot of the UK Ministry of Defence. In July 2010, the Zephyr 7 flew for 14 days. In March 2013, the project was sold to Airbus Defence and Space. In the summer of 2022, the Zephyr 8/S flew for 64 days.

The unmanned aerial vehicles are powered by solar cells, recharging batteries in daylight to stay aloft at night. The latest Zephyr 8/S weighs 60 kg (130 lb), has a wingspan of 25 m (82 ft), can reach 23,200 m (76,100 ft) and can lift a 5 kg (11 lb) payload for months. They can be used for mobile phone coverage, environmental monitoring, military reconnaissance or as a communications relay.

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Development

Zephyr 3

In 2003, QinetiQ, a commercial offshoot of the UK Ministry of Defence, was planning to fly its Zephyr 3 up to 40 km at 70 m/s (250 km/h; 140 kn), after being released from a high-altitude balloon at 9 km, besting the NASA Helios which had reached 29 km.1 It was envisionned as an alternative to space satellites, stationed permanently in the stratosphere for environmental monitoring, mobile phone coverage or military applications.2 The QinetiQ 1 balloon altitude record attempt failed in 2003.3

In February 2005, Qinetiq was preparing a demonstration above 30,000 ft for the UK Ministry of Defence at the Woomera Test Range in Australia, for reconnaissance or as a communications relay.4

Zephyr 5

Zephyr 5 flew on flight trials at White Sands in 2005.5

Zephyr 6

First flew in 2006.6 Between 28 and 31 July 2008, in a demonstration for the US military at its Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, the Zephyr 6 flew for 82 hours and 37 minutes, an unofficial record as the FAI wasn't involved.7

Zephyr 7

On 23 July 2010, the Zephyr 7 took the FAI-sanctioned duration record after a 336 hours (14 days), 22 min and 8 s flight,8 reaching 21,562 m (70,741 ft).9 It exceeded the nine days (216 hours) of the 1986 round-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.10

In March 2013, the project was sold to EADS Astrium (now Airbus Defence and Space).11

In 2014 it flew for 11 days in the short days of winter whilst carrying a small payload for the British Ministry of Defence,12 and later near civilian airspace.13

Zephyr 8/S

In February 2016, the UK Ministry of Defence purchased two Zephyr 8 planes.14 In August 2016, a third was purchased.15

In 2016, a twin-tailed Zephyr T variant, providing a maritime surveillance and communications capability, was scheduled for flight testing in 2018.16

In summer 2018, for its maiden flight from Arizona, the Zephyr S remained aloft for 25 days 23 hours 57 minutes, nearly twice as long as the previous record flight of 14 days set by its predecessor.17 By October 2021, it had flown 2,435 hours.18

On 15 June 2022, the Zephyr S took off in Arizona, venturing for the first time into international airspace and over water.19 On 19 August, the plane was lost over the Arizona desert after a flight time of 64 days. It covered 56,000 km over the southern United States, the Gulf of Mexico, and South America.20

The aircraft was lost when one engine component (redesigned since) failed in an unusual high-altitude storm turbulence at 17 km.21 By early 2023, Airbus planned to launch operations from the end of 2024 with around 18 aircraft.22 By 2034, a 1,000 aircraft constellation could cover 2.9 billion people, and would provide emergency 4G/5G following natural disasters.23 The larger Zephyr variant, with twice the payload capacity, is expected for 2026.24

Commercial services

In January 2023, the Aalto HAPS company was set up by Airbus to sell its mobile connectivity and earth observation services.25 In June 2024, a Japanese consortium led by NTT Docomo and Space Compass committed to invest USD$100m in AALTO to commercialise connectivity HAPS services in Asia, targeting a 2026 introduction.26

Design

Zephyr 3

The 12 m (39 ft) wide aircraft had a carbon composite frame to weigh 12 kg (26 lb), and 1 kW of solar cells powering five motors.27

Zephyr 6

The carbon fiber Zephyr 6 has a 18 m (59 ft) span and weighs 30–34 kg (70 lb) for a 2 kg (4.5 lb) payload.28 Amorphous silicon solar cells from Unisolar recharge lithium-sulphur batteries from Sion Corporation with twice the energy density of the best alternative, lithium polymer batteries.29 Launched by hand, it can reach 18 km (60,000 ft).30 The first version had a battery capacity of 3 kW·h, driving two propellers.31

Zephyr 7

Zephyr 7 was larger, at 53 kg,32 and capable of a maximum altitude between 20 and 21 km,33 it required five ground crew to launch, as opposed to three previously for the Zephyr 6.34

Zephyr 8/S

Designed to fly at 20 km (65,000 ft) for more than a month, the 25 m (82 ft) wide Zephyr 8 is 30% lighter and can lift 50% more batteries than the Zephyr 7.35 It weighs 60 kg, 40% of which are batteries (24 kg), and the 5 kg payload can transmit video with a 50 cm resolution from above 20 km.36 They should be able to operate year-round between 40 degrees North and South, while winter operation gets more difficult at higher latitudes.37

It used Amprius lithium-ion batteries with silicon nanowire anodes for a 435 Wh/kg specific energy up from 300–320 Wh/kg.38 Solar cells are high-efficiency, lightweight, and flexible inverted metamorphic multi-junction epitaxial lift-off GaAs sheets manufactured by MicroLink Devices, with specific power exceeding 1,500 W/kg and areal powers greater than 350 W/m2.39

One Zephyr can replace 250 cell phone towers.40 It can be used to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) with a wide visual payload coverage of 20×30 km (12.4×18.6 mi) and can be equipped with radar, LIDAR and infrared technologies.41

Endurance is targeted for up to 200–300 days.42 An 8 kg (17.6 lb) mobile connectivity payload can serve up to 100,000 people on the ground.43 A 5 kg Airbus-developed Opaz optical sensor can deliver 18 cm-resolution imagery.44

Specifications

Airbus-QinetiQ Zephyr45
ModelSpanWeightCeilingEndurancePayload
Zephyr 412 m (39 ft)17 kg (37 lb)9 140 m (30 000 ft)6 h
Zephyr 516 m (52 ft)31 kg (68 lb)11 000 m (36 000 ft)18 h
Zephyr 618 m (59 ft)30 kg (66 lb)18 300 m (60 000 ft)87 h2 kg (4.4 lb)
Zephyr 722,5 m (74 ft)53 kg (117 lb)21 000 m (69 000 ft)336 h5 kg (11 lb)
Zephyr 8/S25 m (82 ft)62-65 kg (137-143 lb)23,200 m (76,100 ft)46624 h5 kg (11 lb)
Zephyr T32 m (105 ft)145 kg (320 lb)20 kg (44 lb)

Accidents and incidents

As of August 2022[update], three hull losses have been reported:

  • March 2019, Wyndham, Western Australia47
  • 28 September 2019, Wyndham, Western Australia, during the first flight after the first incident in March 20194849
  • 19 August 2022, Arizona, just before breaking the record for the longest flight of any aircraft (a total of 64 days)

See also

  • Renewable energy portal
  • Aviation portal

Notes and references

References

  1. Amos, Jonathan (24 June 2003). "Strato-plane looks forward". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3016082.stm ↩

  2. Amos, Jonathan (24 June 2003). "Strato-plane looks forward". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3016082.stm ↩

  3. Craig Hoyle (22 February 2005). "UK's Zephyr UAV to be tested for military role". Flight International. https://www.flightglobal.com/uks-zephyr-uav-to-be-tested-for-military-role/59002.article ↩

  4. Craig Hoyle (22 February 2005). "UK's Zephyr UAV to be tested for military role". Flight International. https://www.flightglobal.com/uks-zephyr-uav-to-be-tested-for-military-role/59002.article ↩

  5. "QinetiQ’s Solar-Powered Zephyr UAV Beats World Record For Longest Duration Unmanned Flight". Green Car Congress. Retrieved 11 March 2025. https://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/09/qinetiqs-solar-.html ↩

  6. "Our History". AALTO. Retrieved 11 March 2025. https://www.aaltohaps.com/our-history/ ↩

  7. Amos, Jonathan (24 August 2008). "Solar plane makes record flight". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7577493.stm ↩

  8. "FAI Record ID No. 16052". FAI. 16 October 2017. Absolute Record of class U (Experimental / New Technologies) for Duration https://www.fai.org/record/16052 ↩

  9. "FAI Record ID No. 18683". FAI. 29 August 2018. Record of class U (Experimental / New Technologies) for True altitude https://www.fai.org/record/18683 ↩

  10. Amos, Jonathan (23 July 2010). "'Eternal plane' returns to Earth". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10733998 ↩

  11. "First flight of Astrium's Zephyr solar HAPS" (Press release). Airbus. 25 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131005205329/http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/news2/first-flight-of-astrium-s-zephyr-solar-haps.html ↩

  12. Tovey, Alan (31 August 2014). "Fly 11 days non-stop? Now that's long-haul". Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/11064789/Fly-11-days-non-stop-Now-thats-long-haul.html ↩

  13. Woodrow Bellamy III (1 October 2014). "Airbus Zephyr Proves Value For Civil Operations in Middle East". Avionics Today. Access Intelligence LLC. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2014/10/01/airbus-zephyr-proves-value-for-civil-operations-in-middle-east/ ↩

  14. "MoD to buy high-flying solar planes". BBC. 2 February 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35478489 ↩

  15. "MOD buys third record-breaking UAV" (Press release). UK MOD. 17 August 2016. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mod-buys-third-record-breaking-uav ↩

  16. "Farnborough 2016: Airbus releases Zephyr T details, outlines CONOPS for systems". Janes. 14 July 2016. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160825180252/http://www.janes.com/article/62274/farnborough-2016-airbus-releases-zephyr-t-details-outlines-conops-for-systems ↩

  17. Dan Thisdell (8 August 2018). "Airbus sets flight endurance record with Zephyr UAV". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airbus-sets-flight-endurance-record-with-zephyr-uav-451006/ ↩

  18. Sampson, Ben (15 October 2021). "Airbus Zephyr breaks more aviation records during flight testing". Aerospace Testing International. https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/flight-testing/airbus-zephyr-breaks-more-aviation-records-during-flight-testing.html ↩

  19. Buchaniec, Catherine (22 July 2022). "Up, up and away: Airbus' Zephyr drone breaks flight record high above Arizona". Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2022/07/22/up-up-and-away-airbus-zephyr-drone-breaks-flight-record-high-above-arizona/ ↩

  20. "Unexpected end to Zephyr 8's record-smashing 64-day endurance flight". New Atlas. 24 August 2022. https://newatlas.com/aircraft/zephyr-8-mission-ends-abruptly-record-breaking-endurance-flight/ ↩

  21. Craig Hoyle (6 January 2023). "Airbus readies high-flying Zephyr for 2024 service launch". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/airbus-readies-high-flying-zephyr-for-2024-service-launch/151546.article ↩

  22. Craig Hoyle (6 January 2023). "Airbus readies high-flying Zephyr for 2024 service launch". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/airbus-readies-high-flying-zephyr-for-2024-service-launch/151546.article ↩

  23. Craig Hoyle (6 January 2023). "Airbus readies high-flying Zephyr for 2024 service launch". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/airbus-readies-high-flying-zephyr-for-2024-service-launch/151546.article ↩

  24. Craig Hoyle (6 January 2023). "Airbus readies high-flying Zephyr for 2024 service launch". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/airbus-readies-high-flying-zephyr-for-2024-service-launch/151546.article ↩

  25. Ben Sampson (23 January 2023). "Airbus brands stratospheric drone business as Aalto". Aerospace testing international. https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/drones-air-taxis/airbus-brands-stratospheric-drone-zephyr-business-as-aalto.html ↩

  26. "NTT DOCOMO and Space Compass partners with Airbus on HAPS, committing to a USD$100 million investment in AALTO" (Press release). AALTO. 3 June 2024. https://www.aaltohaps.com/news/ntt-docomo-and-space-compass-partners-with-airbus-on-haps-committing-to-a-usd-100-million-investment-in-aalto ↩

  27. Amos, Jonathan (24 June 2003). "Strato-plane looks forward". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3016082.stm ↩

  28. Amos, Jonathan (24 August 2008). "Solar plane makes record flight". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7577493.stm ↩

  29. Amos, Jonathan (24 August 2008). "Solar plane makes record flight". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7577493.stm ↩

  30. Amos, Jonathan (24 August 2008). "Solar plane makes record flight". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7577493.stm ↩

  31. Bush, Steve (28 September 2007). "Inside Qinetiq's Zephyr solar powered plane". Electronics weekly. https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/process-rd/inside-qinetiqs-zephyr-solar-powered-plane-2007-09/ ↩

  32. "Wing-to-tail guide to Zephyr, the 'eternal' plane". BBC News. 23 July 2010. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10742411 ↩

  33. "British MoD Acquires Solar-Powered Zephyr UAV". 17 February 2016. http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/isr/2016/02/17/british-mod-acquires-solar-powered-zephyr-uav/80513364/ ↩

  34. Goodier, Rob (7 July 2010). "Solar Plane Aims for New Record: 3 Months Aloft Without a Pilot or Fuel". Popular mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/drones/how-to/a5914/solar-plane-zephyr-uav-record/d ↩

  35. "United Kingdom Ministry of Defence places order for two solar-powered Airbus Zephyr 8s" (Press release). Airbus. 18 February 2016. https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2016-02-united-kingdom-ministry-of-defence-places-order-for-two-solar ↩

  36. "MoD to buy high-flying solar planes". BBC. 2 February 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35478489 ↩

  37. "MoD to buy high-flying solar planes". BBC. 2 February 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35478489 ↩

  38. Graham Warwick (13 December 2018). "Record-Breaking Zephyr's Battery Holds eVTOL Potential". Aviation Week & Space Technology. http://aviationweek.com/future-aerospace/record-breaking-zephyr-s-battery-holds-evtol-potential ↩

  39. MicroLink Devices (17 October 2018). "MicroLink Devices Powers Successful Stratospheric Flight of Airbus Defence and Space Zephyr S HAPS Solar Aircraft" (Press release). https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microlink-devices-powers-successful-stratospheric-flight-of-airbus-defence-and-space-zephyr-s-haps-solar-aircraft-300732214.html ↩

  40. "Zephyr". Airbus. https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/defence/uas/uas-solutions/zephyr ↩

  41. Buchaniec, Catherine (22 July 2022). "Up, up and away: Airbus' Zephyr drone breaks flight record high above Arizona". Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2022/07/22/up-up-and-away-airbus-zephyr-drone-breaks-flight-record-high-above-arizona/ ↩

  42. Craig Hoyle (6 January 2023). "Airbus readies high-flying Zephyr for 2024 service launch". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/airbus-readies-high-flying-zephyr-for-2024-service-launch/151546.article ↩

  43. Craig Hoyle (6 January 2023). "Airbus readies high-flying Zephyr for 2024 service launch". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/airbus-readies-high-flying-zephyr-for-2024-service-launch/151546.article ↩

  44. Craig Hoyle (6 January 2023). "Airbus readies high-flying Zephyr for 2024 service launch". Flightglobal. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/airbus-readies-high-flying-zephyr-for-2024-service-launch/151546.article ↩

  45. "Airbus-QinetiQ Zephyr". AviationsMilitaires.net. https://aviationsmilitaires.net/v3/kb/aircraft/show/2654/airbus-qinetiq-zephyr ↩

  46. Sampson, Ben (15 October 2021). "Airbus Zephyr breaks more aviation records during flight testing". Aerospace Testing International. https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/flight-testing/airbus-zephyr-breaks-more-aviation-records-during-flight-testing.html ↩

  47. "In-flight break-up involving Airbus Zephyr unmanned aerial vehicle, near Wyndham Airport, Western Australia, on 28 September 2019". Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 28 September 2020. https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2019/aair/ao-2019-056/ ↩

  48. "Outback aviation incident linked to UK Ministry of Defence". 9News. 12 April 2019. https://www.9news.com.au/national/news-wa-outback-aviation-incident-linked-to-uk-ministry-of-defence/9419a3a8-532a-4804-921b-8b492b8c068a ↩

  49. "In-flight break-up involving Airbus Zephyr unmanned aerial vehicle, near Wyndham Airport, Western Australia, on 28 September 2019". Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 28 September 2020. https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2019/aair/ao-2019-056/ ↩