R7 at dusk over a rocky valley

R7 · Autonomous reconnaissance aircraft

The ground, from above.

Endurance

9 h

Acoustic

38 dB

Link

14 km

Case to air

3 min

(01) Overview

A helicopter you carry like a rifle case.

R7 is a single-rotor helicopter, two metres nose to tail and 4.6 kg ready to fly. It hovers, stares and creeps along a ridgeline at walking pace, things a fixed-wing drone can’t do and a quadcopter can’t do for nine hours.

It launches from a hand, flies its own route, holds a stable stare on anything the operator selects, and lands itself on its skid. One person sets it up. Nobody has to fly it.

(02) Airframe

Every part earns its place.

Carbon-composite boom, a shrouded tail rotor and a sealed sensor nose. Five parts that matter most in the field.

R7 side profile: sensor nose on the right, main rotor above the fuselage, a long tail boom ending in a shrouded tail rotor on the left

01

Sealed sensor nose

EO/IR gimbal behind a heated, hydrophobic window.

02

1.86 m main rotor

Low-tip-speed blades for a quiet, slow beat.

03

Composite tail boom

Swaps by hand in under two minutes.

04

Shrouded tail rotor

Cuts noise and keeps fingers safe at launch.

05

Hot-swap battery bay

Swap packs without powering down the avionics.

(03) Sensor

Two eyes. One picture.

A stacked daylight and thermal pair on a three-axis gimbal, fused on board, so R7 keeps seeing through haze, smoke and the last hour of dusk.

Daylight

4K · 30× optical zoom

Thermal

640 × 512 px · 8–14 µm

Stabilisation

3-axis · < 0.01°

Recognition

Vehicle at 3 km · person at 1.2 km

On-board fusion

EO + IR, < 40 ms

Macro view of the R7 sensor window with two stacked lenses
R7 flying low over forested hills in evening haze

(04) In the field

Quiet enough to hold a stare over a valley for an afternoon without anyone below looking up.

(05) Configurations

One airframe. Three jobs.

Every R7 shares the same airframe, battery and case. The nose module and software licence decide what it’s for.

R7 Relay

Carries the link over the ridge.

  • Lightweight daylight camera

  • Dual-band mesh radio, 2 W

  • 11 h endurance

  • Pairs with any R7 Recon

R7 Recon

Most fielded

Find it, follow it, share it.

  • EO/IR gimbal with 30× zoom

  • Sightline track proposals

  • 9 h endurance

  • Three-aircraft formations

R7 Trainer

Learn on the real thing.

  • Recon airframe, unlocked simulator

  • Instructor override link

  • Curriculum for 2-day certification

  • Spares kit doubled

(06) In the case

Everything, in one 72 cm case.

14 kg packed. Carries on a back, fits in a car boot, opens to flight-ready in three minutes.

01

R7 airframe, rotor folded

4.6 kg

02

Batteries, hot-swappable

× 3

03

Rugged ground tablet with Sightline

10.1″

04

Directional mesh antenna

14 km

05

Field charger, vehicle + mains

90 min

06

Spares: blades, boom, skid

Tool-free

(07) Specifications

The numbers.

Measured at sea level, 15 °C, R7 Recon configuration. Full test reports are shared under NDA during a briefing.

Airframe

Length

2.00 m

Main rotor diameter

1.86 m

Mass, ready to fly

4.6 kg

Materials

Carbon composite, Al 7075

Ingress protection

IP54

Performance

Endurance

9 h

Cruise / dash

54 / 90 km/h

Service ceiling

4,200 m AMSL

Wind tolerance

15 m/s sustained

Acoustic signature

38 dB(A) at 120 m

Navigation & autonomy

GNSS

Multi-constellation, anti-jam

GNSS-denied

Visual-terrain matching

Autonomy

Waypoint, orbit, follow, return

Formation

Up to 3 aircraft

Fail-safes

Lost link, low battery, geofence

Link & environment

Datalink

Encrypted mesh, AES-256

Range

14 km LOS, relayed beyond

Video latency

< 180 ms

Operating temperature

−20 to +50 °C

Launch / recovery

Hand launch · skid landing

Demonstrations in Zürich, Turin or at your range

See R7 fly your terrain.

Get Template

$200

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