---
title: "This Is the World’s Biggest Drone"
description: "Alabama-based startup Aevum has unveiled a fully autonomous drone designed to release satellite-launching rockets in midair — and its an absolute monster."
date: "2020-12-04"
modified: "2020-12-04"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/aevum-ravn-x-biggest-drone"
categories:
  - "Drones"
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "drones"
  - "satellite launch"
  - "satellite launch systems"
  - "space force"
  - "the digest"
---

# This Is the World’s Biggest Drone

![Alabama-based startup Aevum has unveiled a fully autonomous drone designed to release satellite-launching rockets in midair — and its an absolute monster.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/aevum-ravn-x-biggest-drone.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Aevum\</em\>*

## Absolute Unit

Alabama-based startup Aevum has unveiled a fully autonomous drone designed to release satellite-launching rockets in midair — and it's an absolute monster.

The Ravn X Autonomous Launch Vehicle is a mammoth 80-foot aircraft with a wingspan of 60 feet. The 18 feet tall behemoth weighs in at 55,000 pounds, which makes it the world's largest Unmanned Aircraft by mass, [according to *The Hill*](<https://thehill.com/changing-america/resilience/smart-cities/528691-the-worlds-biggest-drone-debuts-and-it-weighs-nearly>).

The drone takes off and lands like a regular aircraft and requires a runway at least one mile in length. Once it's airborne, the Ravn X is designed to release a small rocket into orbit.

https://youtu.be/sYMqpL1DtV0

## Rideshare Satellites

The startup has ambitious goals: it claims the aircraft can launch satellites into space every three hours, seven days a week.

"Through our autonomous technologies, Aevum will shorten the lead time of launches from years to months, and when our customers demand it, minutes," Jay Skylus, founder and CEO of Aevum, said in [a statement](<https://iotbusinessnews.com/2020/12/04/58101-aevum-rolls-out-ravn-x-the-worlds-first-autonomous-launch-vehicle-and-the-largest-unmanned-aircraft-system-uas/>). "This is necessary to improve lives on Earth. This is necessary to save lives."

According to the company, the massive vehicle is 70 percent reusable in its current form, but will be up to 95 percent reusable in the near future.

The startup has also already worked with the Space Force to launch the nascent service branch's first small satellite launch mission.

**READ MORE:** [The world's biggest drone debuts, and it weighs nearly 28 tons](<https://thehill.com/changing-america/resilience/smart-cities/528691-the-worlds-biggest-drone-debuts-and-it-weighs-nearly>) \[*The Hill*\]

**More on drones:** *[Firefighters Are Using Drones That Drop Fireballs](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/firefighters-drones-drop-fireballs>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)