SAMAD Aerospace partners with Aerosud Aviation to develop Starling Cargo eVTOL aircraft and expands its design team
SAMAD Aerospace has signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with Aerosud Aviation for the development and manufacture of its Starling Cargo eVTOL aircraft.
The Starling Cargo aircraft will be remotely piloted with auto pilot capability and have a cruising speed of 83 knots, flight ceiling of 10,000 feet and a range of up to 117nm. The electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft will enable flexible point to point air cargo of up to 60 kg payload.
SAMAD Aerospace has already seen interest in the Starling Cargo aircraft from a number of industry sectors that need to transit high value cargo. These include oil and gas corporations, gemstone mining companies, medical logistics and emergency response companies.
Dr. Seyed Mohseni, CEO of SAMAD Aerospace, said: “We look forward to working with Aerosud Aviation to bring our eVTOL Starling Cargo aircraft to market for delivery during the next couple of years. The Starling Cargo aircraft will make air cargo faster, greener and more sustainable.”
Aerosud Aviation is a South African aerospace engineering company specialising in commercial aerostructure part design and manufacturing for international Tier One suppliers.
The Starling Cargo aircraft will also be utilised to deliver humanitarian critical cargo of food, medicine and equipment to often remote regions of the world with underdeveloped or damaged local infrastructure.
Rob Jonkers, Director of Programmes at Aerosud Aviation, added: “We look forward to working with SAMAD Aerospace to bring to market this unique Starling Cargo eVTOL, which has particular advantages in the South African and African context given sparse infrastructure to move cargo at medium to long distance at speed.
“The flexibility of Starling Cargo operations will bring a new dimension to delivery turnaround times country and continent wide”
In addition to the partnership with Aerosud Aviation, SAMAD Aerospace has also announced the appointment of two aircraft design engineers.
Skif Dobney and Natasha Marples are recent graduates of Cranfield University, with Dobney having already been working part-time at SAMAD Aerospace to fit around his studies.
He said: “During my work placement at SAMAD Aerospace I assisted the engineering team with particular focus on the design of the fuselage. I am looking forward to working alongside them as we continue the development of theStarling jet aircraft and the electric Starling Cargo aircraft.”
Marples, added: “I am very interested in the design of airframe systems and systems modelling, as well as working with greener solutions for aviation. In my new role at SAMAD Aerospace, I am looking forward to working on the design of SAMAD Aerospace’s Starling jet aircraft.”

