Hydrogen-Electric UAS
Dragonfly's hydrogen-electric propulsion enables zero-emission flight with endurance far beyond combustion engines. Our unique propulsion system delivers exceptional e-STOL performance, ultra-low maintenance, and whisper-quiet operation with vibration levels that respect costly sensors. Flexible underwing pods allow heavy, power-hungry multi-sensor payloads in modular configurations.
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Book a MeetingSouth Africa faces a growing challenge in protecting its infrastructure, logistics routes, and conservation areas. Crime syndicates, cable theft, and vandalism undermine essential services and weaken the economy. Patrol aircraft and helicopters are too costly to operate continuously, while small drones can't stay airborne long enough to provide real coverage. The result is blind spots, delayed response, and a steady erosion of safety and reliability.
Aerial awareness remains one of the most effective deterrents and response tools, but only if it's affordable, persistent, and easy to deploy. FlyH2 closes this gap with Dragonfly V, a long-endurance hydrogen-electric aircraft built for South African conditions. With 22 hours of hydrogen endurance, 8 hours on battery, and near-zero maintenance, Dragonfly V delivers reliable coverage at a fraction of the cost of manned assets.
Operating quietly through day and night, Dragonfly V carries modular sensor pods tailored to each mission, from perimeter surveillance to infrastructure protection and wildlife monitoring. Our advanced sensor solutions fuse multi-spectral data with machine learning and computer vision to automatically detect and identify anomalies, intrusions, and points of interest. FlyH2's approach is simple: extend visibility, reduce cost, and give teams the endurance and confidence to protect what keeps South Africa running.
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Safety
We see security as the quiet work of keeping things running. We protect the people who build, maintain, and move the systems that keep our country alive, from the workers fixing power lines and managing rail networks to the drivers moving goods and the teams maintaining our roads and infrastructure.
When crime disrupts these systems, everyone feels it. Businesses lose confidence, costs rise, and communities suffer. By helping to prevent theft, vandalism, and organised criminal activity, we protect the flow of work that supports livelihoods across the region.
Our aircraft extend the reach of those who safeguard essential operations, providing awareness and early warning where it matters most. Each mission that deters an attack or prevents a loss strengthens the foundations of a safer, more reliable economy.
We believe that progress depends on stability. Technology, when used with purpose, can protect that stability quietly and effectively, allowing people to work, travel, and trade with confidence. For us, security means creating the conditions where communities can thrive without fear, and where effort is rewarded by what it builds rather than what it must defend.
Power System
Dragonfly V is a fully electric aircraft available in both hydrogen-electric and battery-electric configurations. The hydrogen system provides up to 22 hours of continuous flight, delivering true day-and-night endurance. For more cost-sensitive missions, the battery-electric option offers up to 8 hours of flight on a single charge.
Each aircraft is designed for easy interchangeability between systems. Operators can switch from battery to hydrogen simply by replacing the power pod, ensuring flexibility as operations scale or requirements change.
Reliability is built into every layer. Dragonfly V features dual-redundant fuel cell stacks, each supplied by its own hydrogen cylinder, and control surfaces arranged for full redundancy.
The aircraft is deliberately overpowered, producing up to 9.6kW burst power to handle challenging conditions with confidence. Whether facing gusty crosswinds, high-altitude operations, heavy payload configurations, or unexpected turbulence, Dragonfly V maintains stable flight performance and can climb at over 2,800 feet per minute when needed.
Dragonfly V combines simplicity, safety, and endurance in a system built to keep flying when others can't.
Flight Performance
Mission Assurance
Our radios create a self-forming, self-healing mesh for HD video and telemetry over extreme ranges. Dual-channel MIMO with multi-node networking keeps every asset connected, while Spectrum Dominance features add low-probability intercept/detection and active anti-jamming. The network senses interference, shifts the whole mesh to a clean channel, and can cancel jammers in place. Encryption is AES-256 within a FIPS 140-3 Level 2 validated crypto module.
The flight computer sits inside an EMI-shielded enclosure with hardened electronics to reduce susceptibility to RF/EMF attacks and unintentional interference. The autopilot platform includes redundant sensors and environmental hardening (DO-160 tested) to keep guidance stable in harsh conditions.
The system integrates dual GNSS receivers, triple IMUs, baro redundancy, and dead-reckoning algorithms for GNSS-degraded or denied moments. If satellites fade, it keeps estimating position and attitude until signals return.
From HD video to command and control, every link is IP-native and secured end-to-end over the mesh, with rapid channel agility and hop-to-hop low latency designed for B-VLOS missions.
Operational Simplicity
Dragonfly V is designed for operators who need reliable performance without complexity. With 1,000-hour service intervals, all routine maintenance can be handled by pilots in the field using standard tools. The aircraft breaks down into transportable boxes that fit in an SUV, making deployment and relocation straightforward.
Our unique lift augmentation systems eliminate the need for complex VTOL capabilities while delivering extreme short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) performance. Where VTOL systems add complexity, cost, and maintenance burden while sacrificing endurance and payload capacity, Dragonfly V achieves superior operational flexibility through innovative aerodynamics and automated flight systems.
Automated takeoff and landing systems reduce pilot workload while maintaining full manual override capability. The exceptional eSTOL performance requires just 10 meters for takeoff and 8 meters for landing, opening up operations from confined spaces and unprepared surfaces without the complexity penalties of vertical flight.
Built-in redundancy across power systems and control surfaces ensures mission completion even with component failures, while the robust design handles high-cadence operations in challenging environments. Every aspect prioritizes getting the job done with minimum complexity.
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Mark van Wyk presenting the experimental development model of Dragonfly V at the recent Africa Green Economy Summit. The bright test colors enhance pilot and aircraft orientation during flight trials and development phases.
Security and ISR
Dragonfly V is built for true ISR operations, carrying multiple sensors in coordinated configurations. Electro-optical, thermal, LiDAR, and low-light cameras can operate together, allowing the aircraft to track and classify objects under any conditions. Multi-sensor fusion is critical in modern security missions, combining thermal and visible imagery removes blind spots and strengthens detection confidence across complex environments.
FlyH2's engineering team has decades of combined experience in machine learning, computer vision, and sensor integration. Our systems use real-time algorithms to enhance thermal feeds with low-light imagery, manage wide and narrow fields of view simultaneously, and maintain object continuity through "frame-layer overlays", similar to astronomical tracking techniques used for mapping stars.
Dragonfly V can be natively integrated with established command and control platforms such as Milestone XProtect, Genetec Security Center, and Avigilon Unity. Authorized operators can assume direct gimbal control from a central operations room, plot targets live on secure maps, and share situational awareness instantly across the encrypted mesh network.
Each payload pod is built for the mission and can be swapped in minutes. We focus on proven sensors such as visible, low-light/NIR, thermal (MWIR/LWIR), and narrow-FOV optical zoom systems, combining them in multi-band and multi-spectral configurations. Through targeted field testing we tune sensor combinations and processing pipelines to push practical performance, using sensor fusion, advanced image processing, and deep-learning models such as convolutional and sequence networks where they add real value.
Our approach leverages Dragonfly V's substantial power budget and modular design to support demanding computational workloads. Real-time processing happens onboard, reducing latency and bandwidth requirements while enabling autonomous detection and alert generation. This distributed intelligence architecture allows operators to focus on decision-making rather than data interpretation.
The emphasis is on practical development, applying proven technologies, integrating them tightly, and testing them in real conditions until they deliver reliable, mission-ready performance in detection, tracking, and re-identification by day or night.
Partnership
For sensitive customers who require full control of their systems, Outright Sale provides complete ownership, technical documentation, and local support. This model ensures total operational independence while maintaining access to FlyH2's expertise for upgrades and specialized requirements.
Our UAS-as-a-Service model enables partnership-based operations without high capital expenditure, giving clients access to advanced aerial capabilities through performance-based contracts that scale with mission demand. This flexible approach allows organizations to deploy sophisticated ISR capabilities while maintaining focus on their core mission.
For established operators seeking to expand or strengthen existing fleets, Wet Lease Options deliver ready-to-fly aircraft, crew, maintenance, and secure data links under FlyH2 supervision, ensuring seamless integration with ongoing missions and uninterrupted operational tempo.
We work closely with each customer to ensure that our solutions deliver value that significantly outweighs the cost of the problem or potential loss. Dragonfly V can operate all day and all night at a fraction of the cost of a helicopter, delivering persistent coverage where endurance, efficiency, and safety matter most. We look forward to helping you protect what matters most to your organization.
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Dragonfly V features 3 hard points beneath the wings. The outer pods can be additional hydrogen or auxiliary payloads. The nose has an additional 7.5kg payload capacity.
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