Home | The Achievements
Designing a UAV parachute system with an ultra-lightweight profile while maintaining safe descent characteristics posed a unique engineering challenge. The requirement was clear:
– Total parachute weight under 800 g
– Payload capacity up to 75 kg
– Sink rate below 4 m/s
Meeting these requirements demanded materials and methods far beyond conventional UAV recovery solutions.
APCO employed a proprietary high-tenacity nylon 6-6 fabric, weighing only 20 g/m²—a breakthrough in balancing strength and low bulk. Combined with advanced reinforcement techniques, this material enabled record-breaking weight reduction without compromising durability.
The final configuration resulted in a 35 m² cruciform/rectangular parachute with a drag coefficient above 2.5. This design provides unmatched aerodynamic efficiency, ensuring a safe and stable descent profile even at maximum payload capacity.
To ensure reliability, APCO developed a cross-slider system that reduces opening shock. Flight tests confirmed 2–3.5 g opening loads at 30 m/s, well within acceptable safety margins.
A custom-made deployment bag was engineered together with specifically designed tooling to aid in the packing sequence. This system makes repacking faster, more consistent, and more reliable for the end user, ensuring consistent deployment every time.
• Unprecedented performance ratio – Best-in-class sink rate per kilogram of payload and sink rate per gram of parachute weight.
• Combat proven – Integrated into a fielded UAV platform with thousands of successful deployments and zero failures.
• Reliable and scalable – Robust yet ultra-light construction offers a new benchmark for UAV recovery systems.
Extensive testing confirmed the parachute’s reliability under demanding operational conditions:
– Opening speed: 30 m/s
– Payload weight: 75 kg
– Opening shock: 2–3.5 g
– Deployment record: Thousands of flawless uses on combat-proven UAVs
The APCO super light UAV parachute is an ultra-lightweight recovery system designed for UAVs carrying payloads of up to 75 kg, providing a safe and stable descent with minimal system weight.
The complete parachute system weighs less than 800 grams, setting a new benchmark for payload-to-weight efficiency in UAV recovery solutions.
The parachute is engineered to achieve a sink rate below 4 m/s, ensuring controlled descent and reduced impact forces even at maximum payload capacity.
APCO uses a proprietary high-tenacity nylon 6-6 fabric weighing only 20 g/m², combined with advanced reinforcement techniques to deliver exceptional strength with minimal bulk.
A cross-slider deployment system is used to reduce opening shock, resulting in measured opening loads of 2–3.5 g at 30 m/s, well within safe operational limits.
Yes. The parachute has undergone extensive flight testing and has been combat-proven, with thousands of successful deployments on operational UAV platforms and zero recorded failures.
