Role & capabilities
- Cargo delivery
- Lightweight surveillance
- Communications relay
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Cargo aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- SYPAQ / Corvo
- Origin / production countries
- Australia
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Not distinguished in reviewed sources
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Dated supplier baseline. PPDS deployment evidence must not be transferred automatically to PPDS-HL.
PPDS-HL is the heavy-lift member of Corvo's Precision Payload Delivery System range. It is a separate Australian flying-wing design, with a larger payload allowance than the familiar lightweight PPDS. The manufacturer's August 2023 brochure describes a low-cost disposable airframe using plastic, wood and foam rather than identifying it simply as a cardboard aircraft.
Its primary advertised role is logistics, with alternative lightweight surveillance, mapping and communications-relay payloads. The brochure lists a 2.8-metre span, thirteen-kilogram maximum take-off weight and six-kilogram payload capacity. Its range claims are explicitly conditional: eighty kilometres with six kilograms, or two hundred kilometres with three kilograms. These should remain separate configuration cases in comparisons.
The source describes hand or assisted launch and several recovery possibilities, but does not establish approval for every ship or operating environment. Nor does it identify a delivered military customer specifically for the heavy-lift model. Service evidence for ordinary PPDS aircraft cannot fill that gap. This record therefore represents the published HL offering, with customer acceptance and a newer configuration sheet still needed.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Flying wing; plastic, wood and foam | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Launch / recovery | Hand or assisted launch; belly landing | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | 2.8 m wingspan | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Mass | 13 kg maximum take-off weight | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Range | 80 km with 6 kg payload; 200 km with 3 kg payload | Two manufacturer configuration cases; not a 200 km claim at maximum payload. Source ↗ |
| Speed | 60 km/h optimum cruise | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Altitude | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Payload | 6 kg maximum | Published baseline for this model; maxima are not necessarily simultaneous. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
Publication history
- — Added in the September 2026 global coverage review, with sources, configuration limits and explicit data gaps.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.
- PPDS-HL manufacturer brochure, version 082023 (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme