A NEW flying vehicle is to be built by a host of local businesses in Ayrshire.

‘Sky Hopper’, an unmanned drone system, was revealed at an international conference and has been designed and built in the town by a consortium of local businesses.

The venture is developing a Scottish supply chain with a new Ayrshire company, Main Hunter Aerospace, as prime contractor supported by InterTec Services of Prestwick in engineering and regulatory issues.

The new flying machine has been designed to have a carrying capacity of 20 kilograms with a vertical take-off and cruise flight capacity. The triple fan construction will be driven by powerful electric motors which will reach up to 50 miles in flight.

Project lead and co-ordinator, Eben Wilson, has explained that various avenues of assistance will be provided through universities and colleges to identify problems with the project.

He said: “We have been helped by Ayrshire College and the University of the West of Scotland.”

“What is important to understand is that Scotland has a unique advantage in having the remote spaces and weather conditions to develop safe flying practice.

“The air industry is very conservative in these matters, safety comes above all, and we will have to prove our use case repeatedly across many trials”.

He continued: “The market in unmanned air systems is presently around $6 billion worldwide, with projections of more than $100billion in ten to twenty years. Scotland needs to go out there and grab a slice of that.

“As I say we have the talent, and it’s largely clustered in Ayrshire with its legacy of aircraft production. What we must do is find and develop those skills for our own specific focus”.

It is suspected that Ayrshire will see Sky Hoppers flying over its coasts in the near future with a global revenue earner for the local economy.

The new venture is aiming its first trial flights in summer of 2019.