This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Nov 20, 2025. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
The UAV company is best known for its autonomous, battery-electric crop-dusting aircraft, the Pelican 2.
Pyka has unveiled a new, in-development UAV, the DropShip, that is focused on flying military logistics missions, including parachute dropping cargo.
The UAV company is best known for its autonomous, battery-electric crop-dusting aircraft, the Pelican 2.
The DropShip has two small electric-driven propellers extended upfront on booms and a diesel engine-powered pusher propeller at the aft of its fuselage. The UAV has a ferry range of 3,500 mi. (5,632 km) or a 1,000 mi. range with a 400 lb. payload.
The aircraft can drop a 550 lb. payload from an opening in its cargo bay under its fuselage, parachuting to within 150 ft. of its target, Pyka says. The company says it can also make drops at altitudes from as little as 50 ft.
“DropShip provides a reliable way to get critical material into austere or contested environments. It supports both theater-scale operations and tactical resupply. It can fly up to 45 minutes in all-electric, low-signature mode for covert or noise-sensitive missions.”
The company adds that it can be unpacked from a standard 20-ft. shipping container and readied for flights in less than an hour using a single operator.
The aircraft is designed with a modular, open architecture mission system that would allow it to carry intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors and “waveform-agnostic communications” equipment, as well as acting as a mother ship for small ISR or communications UAVs. On the ground, it could serve as an expeditionary power supply, the company says.
“DropShip answers the urgent demand for a flexible, attritable platform that can extend logistics, ISR and communications deep into contested or difficult-to-reach environments at a fraction of the cost of exquisite assets,” says Michael Norcia, CEO of Pyka.
Pyka says the DropShip has been selected to participate in the U.S. Army Future Command’s Project Convergence Capstone 6 field testing exercise. The company says it has also received from the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX a direct-to-phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract focused on the DropShip.
Pyka declines to say if the aircraft could carry munitions. In addition to military missions, the company is pitching the in-development aircraft as useful for logistics and humanitarian missions.
The DropShip shares the Pelican 2’s autonomous flight system. Pyka aims to test flight the UAV for the first time in 2026.
Related Content
