Hili is a hybrid electric VTOL aircraft — think a large, long-range cargo drone that can take off vertically like a helicopter and fly like a plane. It’s designed to carry around 250kg over distances of up to 700km, mainly aimed at moving urgent or high-value cargo like medical supplies, industrial parts, or humanitarian shipments.
For LODD, this is a big moment. Certification is usually where ambitious aviation projects either slow down or start turning into real operations. It means regulators will now go through everything in detail — design, safety systems, flight tests, and operational performance — before anything is allowed anywhere near commercial use.
The company says it will be working closely with the GCAA throughout the process, which is expected to take time and multiple testing phases.
LODD’s CEO, Rashid Al Manai, described the move as a turning point, saying it shows the programme has reached a level of maturity where it can be evaluated under real regulatory standards. In simple terms: it’s no longer just a prototype — it now has to prove it belongs in the sky.
If everything goes through, Hili would be one of the first autonomous cargo aircraft of its kind to be designed and certified in the UAE. The idea is to eventually use it for things like medical deliveries, offshore operations, and regional logistics routes where speed matters more than scale.
Government bodies including the GCAA, Abu Dhabi Mobility and ADIO are all involved in supporting the programme, which reflects how closely the project is tied to the UAE’s broader push into autonomous transport and future aviation.
For now though, it’s still early — certification is where the real testing begins, and where the concept either becomes a working aircraft or stays a long-term experiment.
