84 optimise its high-level architecture, and the company tells us that it plans to test the UAV’s forward flight mode shortly. The octocopter’s in-house tiltrotor-like design enables the ZenaDrone 1000 to transition between VTOL and forward flight by way of servos twisting its motor arms into a forward-facing position. Having designed the UAV’s whole body as a lift-generating surface, it is designed to maintain up to an hour of flight time on just batteries, although the aircraft has the internal volume for hybridised powertrains and fuels for longer flight times. The company presently engineers it as a battery-electric air vehicle as standard in pursuit of sustainability, but they have announced that they are working on a gas-powered version. As of the time of writing, most onboard systems have been developed in-house, and ZenaTech’s vertically integrated operating model includes manufacturing PCBs, sensors and cameras in Taiwan through a subsidiary company established for NDAA-compliant components for US defence. The company is currently establishing relationships with a number of external suppliers in the short term, to leverage high-quality COTS and custom subsystems towards maximising the UAV’s capabilities and cost-effectiveness. City surveys VTOL-transitioning systems are becoming increasingly prevalent for BVLOS operations, even in critical surveys for major industrial and urban infrastructure, for the mounting improvements in their gust tolerance and general certifiability (as well as their already competitive cost and efficiency versus those of helicopters, given the lack of launch or recovery infrastructure needed to operate them). By taking on missions extending over thousands of miles and tens of thousands of acres in the months ahead, the Sentaero 6 UAV (launched in February 2025 and shipping as of July) from Censys Technologies is achieving areal coverage that is an order of magnitude greater than that of its predecessor, the Sentaero 5. Such missions will include Lidar mapping the entire Florida peninsula surrounding Censys’ headquarters, as well as a number of approved flights over populated areas. August/September 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Censys’ new Sentaero 6 has been engineered to achieve areal coverage that is an order of magnitude greater than that of its predecessor, the Sentaero 5 (Image courtesy of Censys Technologies)
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