Natilus

Natilus is a San Diego-based aerospace company developing next-generation blended-wing-body cargo aircraft.

History
Natilus was founded in April 2016 by Aleksey Matyushev and Anatoly Starikov. The idea for Natilus was sparked after their industrial design firm experienced challenges getting product out of Asia, leading them to the realization that cargo shipping is inexpensive but slow, while air freight is timely but expensive. The company was originally based in the San Francisco Bay Area and the original prototype was a seaplane. In 2021 the company relocated to San Diego, California to access aerospace engineering talent and a world-class wind tunnel facility.

Market
Natilus targets an existing $197 billion global air cargo market, projected to grow beyond $210 billion by 2027, and the potential to tap into the $2.2 trillion global cargo shipping market, projected to reach $4.2 trillion by 2031.

Aircraft
The craft would carry 100 t in freight containers and unit load devices. It would be towed from sea ports outside of territorial waters, mostly at 19 km from shorelines, to takeoff within 6,000 feet in a sea state swell up to 8 feet. It would fly across the Pacific Ocean in 30 hours at 20,000 feet, well below passenger air traffic and would be towed to a seaport 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 200 ft long turboprop drone design is simple without a cockpit, landing gear, or pressurization and would taxi into port remotely controlled at about 30 knots. Landing gear room is left for future use in the 140 foot wide large drone. Natilus aims to ship 200,000 lb 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 6 m 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 30 ft prototype, comparable in size and weight with a Predator drone, between Los Angeles and Hawaii on 30-hour test runs, carrying up to 700 lbs of cargo. The over 200 ft full-scale drone would be finished by 2020 to be flight tested and certified before commercial flights.

A launch customer wants an 80 ft long cargo with a 40,000 lb capacity for 2019, to fly the Los Angeles to Hawaii route, before a 140 ft long craft with a 200,000 lb 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 2,200 lb, its wingspan is 30 ft and it will cruise at 100 knots.

In August 2017, smaller 2 to 10 t cargo-drones were envisioned, with large cargo doors and designed for a 120 kg/m3 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 12,000 lb drone with a retractable landing gear would carry 2 t over 1000 nmi between local regional airports; the 120 t payload craft would weight 950,000 lb for trans-Pacific routes.

The 2-tonne payload freighter would have a blended wing body configuration. In December 2017, water-taxiing of the 9 m wide prototype was going to be tested in San Francisco Bay, before flight testing in 2018 and the 2 t capable freighter by 2020.

In February 2018, the 2,200 lb, 30 ft-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 (BWB) landplane, providing 30% more volume. The first product will be a small regional freighter powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A with a 3.5 - 4.5 t cargo capacity and a 20,000 lb MTOW, to fly in 2020 and to be certified under the FAR Part 23 within 3.5 years from February 2018.

As of March 2023 the projected product range consisted of three variants, all BWB freighters: Kona, a pusher twin-turboprop capable of carrying 3.8 t payload over 900 nmi, Alisio, a turbofan capable of 60 t over 4140 nmi, and Nordes capable of 100 t over 5400 nmi. The company reported that Ameriflight has "agreed to purchase" 20 Konas, and that total agreements cover 460 aircraft valued at over $6.8 billion. The aircraft will have an autopilot, with a ground-based human pilot able to control up to three vehicles.