Facts

• Segment: Logistics
• Country: United States
• Founded: 2016
• Website: https://elroyair.com

Profile sections

• Summary
• Market context
• Products
• Facts
• Context / Market Position
• Events
• Team
• Supply chain relationships
• Relationships
• Context tags
• Customers and deployments
• Sources

Summary

Elroy Air develops autonomous hybrid-electric VTOL cargo aircraft for defense, rapid-response and commercial logistics. Its Chaparral platform is specified for 500+ lb payloads and up to 450 miles, and a 2026 SPAC deal is intended to fund commercial-scale production with Kratos.

Market context

Elroy Air builds Chaparral autonomous heavy-cargo VTOL drones and swappable cargo-pod systems for runway-independent logistics, defense resupply and rapid-response cargo movement.

Products

• Chaparral - Chaparral

Facts

• Website: https://elroyair.com
• HQ: South San Francisco, California, United States
• Founded: 2016
• Segment: Logistics

Autonomous VTOL cargo aircraft for logistics

Elroy Air builds Chaparral, a hybrid-electric autonomous VTOL cargo aircraft positioned for middle-mile logistics, military resupply and emergency response.

• Target environment: Commercial logistics routes, military resupply missions, humanitarian aid lanes and disaster-response routes where runway-independent cargo aircraft matter.
• Deployment model: Autonomous cargo-aircraft OEM with Kratos named as exclusive U.S. manufacturing partner for a five-year Chaparral production agreement.
• Customer context: Defense logistics customers, commercial logistics operators, humanitarian agencies and aircraft operators needing larger payloads than small UAVs can carry.
• Workflow context: Cargo transport, distributed resupply, warehouse-to-warehouse movement, remote-route logistics and rapid delivery into locations without conventional runway access.
• Commercial maturity: Chaparral has reported first point-to-point cargo delivery and an official 300 lb / 300 mile design envelope; the Kratos agreement points to first production aircraft planned for 2026.
• Market position: Autonomous cargo-UAS builder in the logistics and defense resupply layer, with supplier relevance because Kratos is a named production partner.
• Adoption constraints: Aircraft certification, production scale-up, safety case, operator adoption, route economics and defense/commercial procurement timing.
• Adjacent context: Adjacent to cargo drones, autonomous aircraft, middle-mile logistics, defense resupply platforms and large-UAV manufacturing supply chains.
• Source confidence: high

Events

• 2026-06-26 - Market Signal - Elroy Air signs SPAC deal with Columbus Circle Capital Corp II - The transaction is expected to list the combined company in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to approvals and closing cond…
• 2026-01-08 - Partnership - Barq Group and Elroy Air sign initial Abu Dhabi Chaparral manufacturing JV agreement - The framework covers a planned Abu Dhabi facility for Chaparral manufacturing and services in the MENA re…
• 2025-12-18 - Demonstration - Elroy Air completes first airport-to-airport Chaparral cargo delivery - A first airport-to-airport cargo delivery was completed using the hybrid-electric Chaparral VTOL aircraft.
• 2025-09-23 - Production Milestone - Elroy Air names Kratos exclusive U.S. manufacturer for Chaparral - A five-year strategic manufacturing agreement names Kratos as exclusive U.S. manufacturing partner for the Chaparral…
• 2022-03-30 - Partnership - FedEx plans Chaparral cargo-drone testing with Elroy Air - The collaboration focused on autonomous aerial cargo movement for logistics networks.
• 2022-01-26 - Product Launch - Elroy Air unveils Chaparral cargo VTOL - Chaparral was designed around autonomous cargo movement rather than passenger transport.

Team

• Andrew Clare - Chief Executive Officer - Leads Elroy Air through Chaparral production scaling and commercial/defense market development.
• Dave Merrill - Founder and Executive Chairman - Founder and board leader tied to Chaparral’s autonomous cargo-aircraft program.
• Buddy Michini - Chief Technology Officer - Leads technology execution for Chaparral aircraft systems.
• Jon Reeves - Director of Software - Owns software leadership for autonomous aircraft development.
• Alvin Oswandy - Head of Finance - Supports capital planning for Chaparral production and commercialization.
• Stephanie Henning McDonald - Director of Product, Programs, and Manufacturing - C2 - Connects product programs and manufacturing execution for Chaparral C2 workflows.
• Mark Rodrigo - Head of Federal Business Development - Leads federal-market engagement for Chaparral defense and government use cases.
• Phillip Jones - Director of Flight Test Engineering - Leads flight-test execution for Chaparral aircraft milestones.
• Igor Salva - Director of Integration and Test - Leads integration and test work for Chaparral aircraft systems.
• Clint Cope - Co-Founder, Strategy / Product / Engineering - Co-founder tied to Chaparral strategy, product and engineering development.

Supply chain relationships

• Kratos Defense & Security Solutions - Exclusive U.S. manufacturer - Kratos is Elroy Air?s exclusive U.S. manufacturing partner for the Chaparral VTOL cargo drone under a five-year agreement.
• Abu Dhabi manufacturing JV framework - Barq Group and Elroy Air signed an initial agreement for a $200 million JV framework to manufacture and service Chaparral systems in Abu Dhabi.

Relationships

• Chaparral middle-mile testing partner - FedEx Express and Elroy Air agreed to test Chaparral autonomous cargo aircraft for middle-mile logistics operations.
• SPAC business-combination counterparty - Elroy Air signed a definitive business-combination agreement with Columbus Circle Capital Corp II.
• Chaparral demand-pipeline counterparty - Elroy Air lists Bristow Group among logistics and aviation companies in its Chaparral demand pipeline.
• Chaparral demand-pipeline counterparty - Elroy Air lists LCI among logistics and aviation companies in its Chaparral demand pipeline.
• Chaparral demand-pipeline counterparty - Elroy Air lists SLI among logistics and aviation companies in its Chaparral demand pipeline.

Context tags

• Logistics operations - Customer Environment - Chaparral targets middle-mile logistics, military resupply and disaster response.
• VTOL unmanned aircraft - Capability - Chaparral is described as an autonomous hybrid-electric VTOL cargo aircraft.
• Unmanned aircraft OEM - Stack Layer - Elroy builds the Chaparral uncrewed aircraft platform.
• Cargo UAV payload lift - Capability - Chaparral is officially specified for 500+ lb payload capacity and up to 450 miles of range.
• Autonomous flight - Capability - Elroy describes Chaparral as an autonomous uncrewed cargo aircraft.
• Manufacturing scale-up - Commercial Stage - Kratos agreement covers a five-year U.S. manufacturing path with first production aircraft planned for 2026.
• Autonomous drone companies - Peer Group - Elroy is an autonomous cargo-drone builder rather than a component supplier.
• Defence customers - Customer Environment - Sources position Chaparral for military resupply as well as commercial logistics.

Customers and deployments

• Planned Production Path - First production Chaparral aircraft planned for 2026; no production rate or capacity disclosed - 2025-09-23 - Kratos was named exclusive U.S. manufacturing partner for Chaparral under a five-ye…