Meet the Windracers ULTRA: The long-distance heavy-lift UAV delivering medical supplies to remote African communities
June 20, 2025
During the Paris Air Show, Aviation Sans Frontières shared details of a new humanitarian partnership with Windracers. Under the partnership, the Windracers ULTRA, a heavy-lift drone, will deliver essential mediacal supplies to some of the most isolated communities in Africa.
“This project represents a potential turning point for humanitarian logistics in Africa,” says Stephane Blandino, Project Manager for Aviation Sans Frontières. “We are developing a solution that is both innovative and grounded in the realities of the field — sustainable, scalable, and adapted to the needs of the most remote communities.
“It’s about making healthcare accessible — regardless of distance.”
At the heart of this project is a rather strange looking, double propellor flying vehicle, sporting an inverted V tail and chunky, rugged tyres. It’s name is the Windracers ULTRA MK2, a self-flying cargo UAV that is proving its worth in the most extreme environments around the world.
What is the Windracers ULTRA?
The ULTRA MK2 is the world’s most accomplished long-distance, heavy-lift UAV. Built in Southampton, UK, it can carry a load weighing 150 kg (330 lbs) up to 1,000 km (620 miles), and can land and take off like an aircraft, or air drop the cargo from above.
With only a 10 metre wingspan, the UAV is smaller than most GA aircraft, but it comes fully loaded. It has ADSB, Mode S, alongside detect and avoid systems and a proprietary remote operation ‘Mission Control’ system, as well as its own autopilot software. The whole thing packs down and can be transported in a standard size van to launch locations.
“We’ve designed a transit van that can fly,” Windracers tells AGN at Paris Air Show. “You tell us what you want to do with it, we make it work.”
The projects the ULTRA has been involved in to date are wide-ranging. Having been founded in 2017, the MK1 aircraft took its first flight in late 2020, carrying medical supplies from Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly.
Since then, Royal Mail has used it to take deliveries to remote Scottish islands, the Royal Navy has been testing the aircraft from a carrier at sea, and the British Antarctic survey has used it to map parts of Antarctica that have been out of reach to researchers.
With plenty of data under their belt, Windracers began tweaking the design and optimising the characteristics of the UAV, culminating in the reveal of the ULTRA MK2 in January 2025.
The MK2 has double the power of the previous generation, a 50% increase in usable payload and lower fuel burn. Its chunky tyres mean it can land and takeoff from the most rugged surfaces, and the pair of 627-cc four-stroke engines from Briggs & Stratton that power it are so simple they can be repaired on the spot with limited tools and expertise.
But the Winrdacers ULTRA has yet to complete the mission for which it was originally designed. The concept for the aircraft was always that it would play a role in deliveries of essential supplies, aid, medicine and cargo to remote African communities. Now, through its partnership with Aviation Sans Frontières, it is ready to fulfil its destiny.
Windracers ULTRA activities in Africa
The initial operations in Africa will focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the deliveries of temperature-sensitive medical supplies like vaccines.
“By integrating local training, regulatory compliance, and environmental sustainability, the Aviation Sans Frontières–Windracers partnership aims to create a replicable model for humanitarian drone logistics across Africa,” Windracers says. “This innovation offers a path toward more efficient, greener, and more equitable aid delivery.”
One Windracers ULTRA MK2 will be deployed on the project to start, with operations commencing in October 2025. This proof of concept work will be instrumental in unlocking Windracers ambitions to become a valuable part of the humanitarian logistics landscape in Africa.
To support the project, Windracers is establishing a permanent operational base at Kasungu Airfield in the central region of Malawi. The company is working closely with the Malawi Civil Aviation Authority to develop autonomous logistics support, and hopes to create local jobs through its work in the country.
In regards to the regulatory environment, the company says each country presents its own challenges and opportunities. Through ongoing close collaboration with aviation authorities and the formation of local partnerships, Windracers hopes to shape global frameworks for humanitarian missions carried out by UAV.
