The U.S. government is doubling down on delivery drones — and it’s doing so with big money and even bigger aircraft. Texas-based drone manufacturer Skyways just landed a $37 million contract from the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX program to transition its prototype V3 cargo drone into mass production.
Now we’re not talking those cute delivery drones from Walmart that bring Pedialyte to your backyard on a Sunday morning. These are serious delivery drones. Skyways’ V3 is a massive, hybrid-powered aircraft capable of carrying 100 pounds of cargo, flying more than 1,000 miles and staying aloft for over 20 hours.
If this cargo drone from Skyways is an SUV, then most of the delivery drones we talk about here are golf carts. But relative to Air Force technology, this is actually a transition to more affordable, uncrewed systems that can deliver supplies with fewer risks and lower operational costs.
Skyways’ V3: a long-range, heavy-lift, fully autonomous drone
Skyways’ V3 is built for both military and commercial use, offering autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and a double-hybrid propulsion system (fuel plus electric). This allows it to operate like a helicopter during takeoff, then cruise like a fixed-wing airplane. That’s something we commonly see for use cases in either busy cities with no space for runways, or remote or rugged terrain where building one isn’t practical.
The V3 builds on the company’s earlier V2 aircraft, which is already flying cargo missions. The V2 can carry 30 pounds up to 500 miles, but the V3 triples that payload and doubles the range. Crucially, both platforms reuse Skyways’ flight-proven autonomy stack, which the company says accelerates its path from demo to deployment.
“Skyways is landing contracts well above its weight class—and that’s no accident,” said Charles Acknin, Skyways’ co-founder and CEO in a prepared statement. “We self-fund building and flying full-scale aircraft early during development so prospective customers can see real capability, not a slide deck.”
Military interest in autonomous cargo drones is growing fast
AFWERX is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). This subgroup of the Air Force is designed to source innovative new tech from startups and small businesses for national defense. Its endorsement of Skyways — backed by millions in funding — underscores a growing government appetite for scalable, low-cost autonomous systems to support logistics in both peacetime and combat scenarios.
Since 2019, AFWERX has awarded more than 10,000 contracts totaling over $7 billion. This particular award is notable because it positions Skyways’ drone as a potential Program of Record — the formal designation for long-term, large-scale Department of Defense procurement.
That means we may see thousands of Skyways aircraft deployed in the coming years — not just for the Air Force, but also across the broader defense ecosystem, and potentially in civilian disaster relief, medical delivery or off-grid supply chain support.
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