Tekever has unveiled the AR6, a new family of autonomous heavy lift aircraft designed and built in the UK that the company says will carry 200kg over 500km, with military applications including casualty evacuation, forward logistics and teaming with British Army Apaches under Project Nyx, the company announced at the Farnborough International Airshow.
The AR6 expands the company’s portfolio from the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones for which it is best known into the heavy lift class, addressing what Tekever describes as a core market gap, since the segment is dominated by electric VTOL platforms typically able to lift up to 100kg over very short distances of one to five kilometres. By drawing on specialist advances in hydraulic and propulsion technology, the company says the AR6 aims to set a new standard, built for harsh environments and able to operate in very hot and cold conditions with minimum maintenance and sustainment costs. Designed and built in the UK with British SME partners, the family delivers a sovereign solution for heavy lift autonomy, with production due to start by the end of 2026 at the company’s Swindon manufacturing hub.
“AR6 represents the next evolution of our autonomous capability,” said Ricardo Mendes, Tekever’s Chief Executive, as quoted in the press release. “For years, we’ve helped customers move information. Today, we’re extending that capability to moving what matters most. Autonomous Lift opens a new category of missions for TEKEVER and, more importantly, for our customers.”
The family will serve both civil and military markets, with civil use cases including logistics, offshore operations, medical support, search and rescue and disaster relief, while military roles span casualty evacuation, forward logistics and combat wingman concepts, among them the UK Apache teaming concept under Project Nyx, the Army’s effort to pair uncrewed aircraft with its attack helicopter force. The military variant will be able to operate fully without any reliance on satellite navigation, according to the company, and will carry advanced Mission Autonomy features for multi-platform swarming, crewed teaming and survivability, drawing on the company’s proprietary autonomy stack and what it describes as lessons from Ukraine, where its aircraft have flown extensively on surveillance missions.
“The future of autonomy is about delivering operational outcomes,” said Karl Brew, Head of Tekever UK, as quoted in the release. “AR6 expands the envelope enabling us to leverage all of the experience we have built up in Ukraine and around the world into a whole new set of use cases.”
The launch continues a striking period of British growth for the Portuguese-founded firm, which has committed £400 million of UK investment under its five-year Overmatch programme, achieved unicorn valuation, and operates its surveillance aircraft for customers including the Home Office, with the Swindon production line placing the AR6 within the same industrial expansion. A heavy lift platform with the range claimed would also speak to requirements emerging across NATO for uncrewed resupply and casualty evacuation in contested environments, where the combination the company describes, meaningful payload, long range and no satellite navigation dependence, addresses the conditions the war in Ukraine has made standard, though no launch customer or order accompanies the announcement.
Now if this thing doesn’t mind a bit of seawater, the RN could probably make very good use of it
Sounds like it’s competing with T650 for the ‘maxed-out quadcopter’ category. A useful payload and range, I wonder what the endurance for ASW would be?