MIDDLE EAST: LODD Launches Certification Program for Hili Hybrid Cargo Aircraft with UAE’s GCAA 

LODD Autonomous has ini­ti­at­ed the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram for its Hili hybrid car­go air­craft with the UAE’s Gen­er­al Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty (GCAA).

The launch of the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram marks Hili’s tran­si­tion from air­craft devel­op­ment and flight test­ing into the for­mal cer­ti­fi­ca­tion phase, a crit­i­cal step towards achiev­ing com­mer­cial entry into ser­vice fol­low­ing a demon­stra­tion of com­pli­ance with the high­est air­wor­thi­ness and safe­ty stan­dards.

Hili is a hybrid-pow­ered ver­ti­cal take-off and land­ing (VTOL) air­craft being designed and devel­oped by LODD in Abu Dhabi to trans­port pay­loads of up to 250 kilo­grams over dis­tances of up to 700 kilo­me­ters, mak­ing it one of the longest-range car­go UAV pro­grams cur­rent­ly under devel­op­ment in the region.  

The air­craft is set to reshape region­al car­go trans­porta­tion, enabling faster, more effi­cient, and more sus­tain­able health­care, ener­gy, human­i­tar­i­an, and indus­tri­al sup­ply chains.

Rashid Al Man­ai, CEO of LODD, said: “The launch of the Hili cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram marks one of the most sig­nif­i­cant mile­stones in the evo­lu­tion of the air­craft and reflects the progress we have made across design, engi­neer­ing and flight test­ing.

“Enter­ing for­mal cer­ti­fi­ca­tion demon­strates the matu­ri­ty of the Hili pro­gram and moves Hili from devel­op­ment into the path­way towards com­mer­cial oper­a­tions. It brings us one step clos­er to deliv­er­ing a UAE-devel­oped super­vised autonomous car­go air­craft sys­tem capa­ble of trans­form­ing how crit­i­cal goods are moved across the UAE, the region and glob­al­ly.”

The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram will encom­pass air­craft design approval activ­i­ties, air­wor­thi­ness com­pli­ance demon­stra­tions, ground and flight test­ing, oper­a­tional eval­u­a­tions, and safe­ty assess­ments required to demon­strate com­pli­ance with applic­a­ble air­wor­thi­ness and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion require­ments and sup­port future com­mer­cial oper­a­tions.

The pro­gram will be con­duct­ed under the super­vi­sion of the Smart and Autonomous Sys­tems Coun­cil, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the GCAA act­ing as the cer­ti­fy­ing author­i­ty through­out the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process.

It rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone for both LODD and the UAE aero­space sec­tor and sup­ports the com­pa­ny’s ambi­tion to cer­ti­fy Hili as the first advanced autonomous civil­ian air­craft designed, engi­neered, and cer­ti­fied in the UAE.

The ini­tia­tive is sup­port­ed by key stake­hold­ers across Abu Dhabi’s avi­a­tion ecosys­tem, includ­ing the Inte­grat­ed Trans­port Cen­tre (Abu Dhabi Mobil­i­ty) and the Abu Dhabi Invest­ment Office (ADIO), through its Smart and Autonomous Vehi­cles Indus­try (SAVI) Clus­ter, reflect­ing a col­lab­o­ra­tive approach to enabling the devel­op­ment, cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and com­mer­cial deploy­ment of next-gen­er­a­tion avi­a­tion tech­nolo­gies in the Emi­rate.

Eng. Aqeel Al Zarooni, Assis­tant Direc­tor Gen­er­al for Avi­a­tion Safe­ty Affairs at ‚the Gen­er­al Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty (GCAA), said: “The ini­ti­a­tion of the Hili cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram demon­strates the UAE’s com­mit­ment to enabling inno­va­tion while main­tain­ing the high­est stan­dards of avi­a­tion safe­ty. Advanced air­craft pro­grams such as Hili play an impor­tant role in the evo­lu­tion of avi­a­tion and sup­port the safe inte­gra­tion of next-gen­er­a­tion tech­nolo­gies into the nation­al avi­a­tion ecosys­tem.

“Through close col­lab­o­ra­tion with indus­try stake­hold­ers, the GCAA con­tin­ues to sup­port the devel­op­ment and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of advanced avi­a­tion tech­nolo­gies that con­tribute to the growth of the nation­al avi­a­tion sec­tor and rein­force the UAE’s posi­tion as a glob­al leader in avi­a­tion inno­va­tion.”

Dr Abdul­la Hamad AlGh­fe­li, Act­ing Direc­tor Gen­er­al of the Inte­grat­ed Trans­port Cen­tre, added: “The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of advanced autonomous avi­a­tion sys­tems such as Hili rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant step in advanc­ing Abu Dhabi’s inte­grat­ed mobil­i­ty ecosys­tem.

“At the Inte­grat­ed Trans­port Cen­tre, we are com­mit­ted to enabling and sup­port­ing the devel­op­ment of inno­v­a­tive trans­port solu­tions that enhance effi­cien­cy, safe­ty, and sus­tain­abil­i­ty across the Emi­rate. This mile­stone reflects Abu Dhabi’s con­tin­ued efforts to inte­grate next-gen­er­a­tion avi­a­tion tech­nolo­gies into a con­nect­ed and future-ready trans­port net­work.”

The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram will focus on demon­strat­ing the air­craft’s com­pli­ance with applic­a­ble air­wor­thi­ness, safe­ty and oper­a­tional require­ments through a struc­tured pro­gram of design reviews, com­pli­ance activ­i­ties, sys­tem val­i­da­tion, flight test­ing, oper­a­tional eval­u­a­tions and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion approvals.

Upon cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, Hili is expect­ed to sup­port a range of com­mer­cial appli­ca­tions includ­ing mid­dle-mile logis­tics, health­care sup­ply chains, off­shore oper­a­tions, human­i­tar­i­an response and region­al car­go trans­porta­tion. As the pro­gram advances towards cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, Hili is expect­ed to strength­en the UAE’s autonomous avi­a­tion capa­bil­i­ties and sup­port the devel­op­ment of next-gen­er­a­tion car­go trans­porta­tion net­works from Abu Dhabi to region­al and glob­al mar­kets.

Ali AlHash­mi, Head of the SAVI Clus­ter, Abu Dhabi Invest­ment Office, said: “Hili’s pro­gres­sion into for­mal cer­ti­fi­ca­tion demon­strates the strength of the col­lab­o­ra­tive envi­ron­ment being built across indus­try, reg­u­la­tors and ecosys­tem part­ners to sup­port the devel­op­ment, test­ing and com­mer­cial deploy­ment of next-gen­er­a­tion avi­a­tion tech­nolo­gies.

“As com­pa­nies move from inno­va­tion to deploy­ment, Abu Dhabi con­tin­ues to pro­vide the infra­struc­ture, reg­u­la­to­ry frame­works and busi­ness-friend­ly envi­ron­ment need­ed to accel­er­ate the future of advanced avi­a­tion.”

The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram will focus on demon­strat­ing the air­craft’s com­pli­ance with applic­a­ble air­wor­thi­ness, safe­ty and oper­a­tional require­ments through a struc­tured pro­gram of design reviews, com­pli­ance activ­i­ties, sys­tem val­i­da­tion, flight test­ing, oper­a­tional eval­u­a­tions and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion approvals.

Upon cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, Hili is expect­ed to sup­port a range of com­mer­cial appli­ca­tions includ­ing mid­dle-mile logis­tics, health­care sup­ply chains, off­shore oper­a­tions, human­i­tar­i­an response and region­al car­go trans­porta­tion.

As the pro­gram advances towards cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, Hili is expect­ed to strength­en the UAE’s autonomous avi­a­tion capa­bil­i­ties and sup­port the devel­op­ment of next-gen­er­a­tion car­go trans­porta­tion net­works from Abu Dhabi to region­al and glob­al mar­kets.