Li-S Energy Limited (ASX:LIS)

Li-S Energy announced that the EATP Pegasus long-endurance drone, developed with V-TOL Aerospace and Halocell Energy under the Commonwealth Government’s Emerging Aviation Technology Partnership programme, completed a successful Queensland flight test campaign culminating in an almost two-hour flight covering more than 75 kilometres on a single 382 Wh lithium-sulfur battery pack, landing safely with spare capacity. The five-metre wingspan twin-motor aircraft integrates V-TOL’s airframe and power systems, Li-S Energy’s lithium-sulfur battery packs and battery management system, and Halocell’s perovskite solar array, with LIS stating its cells delivered about 80% more range and flight time on a same cell weight basis than an equivalent high-performance lithium polymer UAV battery. The project, backed by a Commonwealth grant of just over $1.35 million matched by the partners, marks the practical completion of the EATP development and flight test work, with partners now analysing data and assessing commercial potential for long-endurance mapping, surveillance, agricultural, utilities and environmental monitoring missions. Pegasus is designed to take two Li-S Energy battery packs and, with improved solar array performance, is expected to target 5–8 hour missions and 250 kilometres, while Li-S Energy also noted it filed two patent applications related to battery management and pack design as the partners consider future commercial platform sales in growing commercial and defence drone markets.