AVILUS Wespe
AVILUS's Wespe is a German uncrewed coaxial-rotor helicopter built to carry about 200 kg of cargo or casualties some 300 km with no crew aboard; the first-generation prototype flew on 1 June 2026, pitched at the Bundeswehr's contested-resupply and medevac needs.
The AVILUS Wespe is a German uncrewed coaxial-rotor helicopter designed to move cargo or casualties without a crew aboard, built by a Bundeswehr-pulled Munich startup and first flown in June 2026.
Overview
The Wespe is an uncrewed helicopter developed by AVILUS, a German defense-technology startup based near Munich, for tactical logistics and casualty evacuation rather than strike. It uses a coaxial main-rotor layout with no tail rotor and is designed to carry a payload of roughly 200 kg over about 300 km in its piston-engine form, according to the company's figures reported by hartpunkt and the trade outlet Uncrewed Systems. AVILUS positions it as a system that can fly resupply or medevac missions in conditions where a crewed helicopter would be too exposed or too costly to risk.
The name is German for "wasp." It should not be confused with the Second World War-era Wespe (Sd.Kfz. 124), a self-propelled 10.5 cm howitzer built on the Panzer II chassis; the two share only a name.
It is one of three uncrewed aircraft AVILUS has unveiled since 2025, alongside the electric Grille medevac multicopter and the fixed-wing Bussard. As of mid-2026 it remains a flight-test prototype, not an in-service system.
Development
AVILUS was founded in 2021 and is based in Bavaria, near Munich. Its origin runs through the Technical University of Munich: according to Uncrewed Systems, the founding engineers were PhD students at TUM's Institute of Flight System Dynamics under Professor Florian Holzapfel, brought together to answer a Bundeswehr request for a "flying stretcher." Ernst Rittinghaus — described there as the company's principal investor and CEO — came from the ground-evacuation-vehicle world and seeded the effort, and AVILUS acquired the necessary assets from ambulance-maker Binz. Max Söpper is CTO, Niclas Bähr COO and Daniel Dollinger head of design.
The Wespe was first shown publicly at the Bundeswehr open day (Tag der Bundeswehr) in late June 2025, per hartpunkt. Its maiden flight followed on 1 June 2026, when the first-generation aircraft, tail number "9Y-01," demonstrated stable hovering plus forward and lateral movement, remotely piloted from the RasCore Ground station, according to AVILUS. Aviation Week reported AVILUS flew two rotary-wing UAS in three days — the Wespe on 1 June and its electric Grille on 3 June — though some outlets, including Оборонка, dated the Wespe flight to 2 June.
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