Natilus targets an existing $100 billion per year Trans-Pacific airfreight market, growing due to e-commerce and as 30% of US companies sales are international. In 2015 it planned to initially operate a fleet of up to five cargo planes with one partner per route and offering the cargo insurance for the first year, saving operational costs for freight forwarders and increasing the profit margin by 20%. Natilus hopes to build hundreds of the drones, to operate itself under its customer brands or to sell them directly to customers like UPS and FedEx or “medium freight forwarders” like Whole Foods and Costco. It would cost about one-tenth of a crewed freight aircraft, and transoceanic trips would cost about half as much as standard air freight. Natilus hopes to balance speed with cost, shipping time-sensitive freight that isn’t valuable enough to fly, but is more valuable than much of what sails, like perishable food, basic electronic components, vehicles, pharmaceuticals. Bulkier and cheaper goods like crude oil or clothing would still travel slowly but cheaply by sea and high-end goods like sushi-grade fish or luxury cars would still fly faster for more money. Freight is a $15.5 trillion market worldwide.
Aircraft
The craft would carry in freight containers and unit load devices. It would be towed from a sea ports outside of territorial waters, mostly at from shorelines, to takeoff within in a sea state swell up to. It would fly across the Pacific ocean in 30 hours at, well below passenger air traffic and would be towed to a sea port after landing. Made of carbon fibre and fibreglass composites, its production cost is estimated at $25 million, much lower than jetliners due to fewer onboard systems and no pilots, it would be powered by jet engines developed by Pratt & Whitney. The 2020 carbon-fiber full-scale long turboprop drone design is simple without a cockpit, landing gear, or pressurization and would taxi into port remotely controlled at about. Landing gear room is leaved for future use in the wide large drone. Natilus aims to ship from Los Angeles to Shanghai in 30h for $130,000 at $3 per gallon of jet fuel, while a Boeing 747 takes 11h for $260,000 and a cargo ship takes 504 hours for $61,000
Development
A wingspan scale model will test the autopilot and water take-off and landing. In July 2015, it was targeted to fly within 18 months before a full scale aircraft three years later. Natilus raised $750,000 of venture capital from Tim Draper and was incubated at the aviation-oriented Starburst Accelerator in Los Angeles. Natilus hopes to fly its prototype, comparable in size and weight with a Predator drone, between Los Angeles and Hawaii on 30-hour test runs, carrying up to of cargo. The over full-scale drone would be finished by 2020 to be flight tested and certified before commercial flights. A launch customer wants an long cargo with a capacity for 2019, to fly the Los Angeles to Hawaii route, before a long craft with a capacity would fly between the U.S. and China by 2020. About 70% complete in May 2017, the prototype seaplane will lack a landing gear, its maximum gross weight is, its wingspan is and it will cruise at. In August 2017, smaller cargo-drones were envisioned, with large cargo doors and designed for a dimensional weight. In November 2017, Natilus closed a second round of seed funding from Starburst Ventures, Seraph Group, Gelt VC, Outpost Capital and Draper Associates. Using existing turbofan and turboprop engines, a drone with a retractable landing gear would carry over between local regional airports; the payload craft would weight for trans-Pacific routes. The 2-tonne payload freighter would have a blended wing body configuration. In December 2017, water-taxiing of the wide prototype was going to be tested in San Francisco Bay, before flight testing in 2018 and the capable freighter by 2020. In February 2018, the, -span prototype was being prepared for flight from San Pablo Bay, north of San Francisco, powered by a single Rotax 912 piston. The next aircraft will be a blended wing body landplane, providing 30% more volume. The first product will be a small regional freighter powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A with a cargo capacity and a MTOW, to fly in 2020 and to be certified under the FAR Part 23 within 3.5 years from February 2018.
