A 1.5-tonne-class tilt-rotor drone from an NUAA spin-off led by Professor Zhao Qijun completed its first fully autonomous flight in August 2026.
On 1 August 2026, the Qizhi-5, a 1.5-tonne-class tilt-rotor unmanned aircraft, made its first public flight at a test base in Chuzhou. It was developed by Nanjing Qizhi Aviation Technology Co., an NUAA technology-commercialisation company founded by Professor Zhao Qijun, Dean of NUAA's Helicopter Research Institute and Executive Deputy Director of the National Key Laboratory of Helicopter Dynamics.
Take-off, hover, manoeuvring flight and landing were all controlled autonomously by the aircraft's flight-control system. Combining vertical take-off and landing with high-speed cruise, the design is rated by its developers for a maximum speed of 450 km/h, a 300 kg payload and a 1,900 km range. The team holds core technologies in overall design, transmission, rotor systems, flight control, structures and aerodynamic noise — an example of NUAA helicopter research becoming real aircraft for the fast-growing low-altitude economy.