Dronamics and the EIC Accelerator: A Cargo Drone Still Grounded

Dronamics wants to be an airline without pilots. The company, founded by Svilen and Konstantin Rangelov, designs and builds the Black Swan, a single-engine unmanned aircraft that it says can carry 350 kg over 2,500 km, and plans to fly it between small airfields for freight that is too urgent for trucks and too small for cargo jets.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,498,825 towards a €3.57 million project, "The first European cargo drone airline", which ran from June 2022 to July 2025. The EIC Fund then invested €10 million in 2024 and in 2025 selected Dronamics for up to €30 million more. According to the CORDIS report, the project demonstrated "the technical feasibility and safety of large cargo drones in real-world operations". What it has not produced is the airline: Dronamics has not announced a single commercial cargo flight, and its UK company reported no turnover in 2023 or 2024.

Where Dronamics Stands Today

The company's 2026 news is about new uses for the aircraft rather than cargo. In February it launched a "Detect & Defend" version of the Black Swan, with the German defence company Hensoldt supplying radar and mission software. In April it welcomed Asia Air Survey, a Tokyo-listed surveying company, as a strategic investor and set up a Japanese holding company for aerial surveying and disaster prevention; the amount was not disclosed. In June it showed a surveillance mock-up at the HEMUS defence fair in Plovdiv, and the defence site Warsight reported that it planned to test that version in a Bulgarian military exercise in late summer 2026. Company representatives told Warsight that the programme "has encountered regulatory challenges associated with operating within European airspace", and that testing had moved to Madeira in Portugal.

The Technology: A Delivery Van With Wings

The Black Swan is a fixed-wing aircraft with a piston engine, flown remotely and designed to use existing small airfields. The full-scale aircraft first flew at Balchik in Bulgaria on 25 May 2023. The company claims it moves freight up to 80% faster and 50% cheaper than other modes, with 60% lower emissions; those figures are its own. Its regulatory head start came earlier: in May 2022 Transport Malta granted it the EU's Light UAS Operator Certificate, which lets it authorise its own flights across member states.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The project was to launch "the first European cargo drone airline". The CORDIS report lists the feasibility, design and demonstration phases as completed, together with droneport infrastructure and "regulatory authorizations for extended-range unmanned aircraft operations across Europe". It gives no number of flights, flight hours, aircraft built or tonnes carried, and it does not report a commercial service. The grant agreement was signed in November 2022, five months after the project's start date.

1. Full-scale cargo drone flyingDeliveredFirst flight May 2023.
2. EU operating licenceDeliveredMalta LUC, May 2022.
3. Commercial cargo airlineNot launchedNo cargo flight announced.
4. RevenueNoneUK turnover nil, 2023 and 2024.

The Launch That Keeps Moving

Dronamics has set a launch date almost every year. In May 2022 it planned "our first commercial flights out of Malta and Italy later this year". After the first flight in May 2023 it said operations would start later that year. In March 2024, announcing the €10 million EIC investment, it said commercial operations were "expected to commence as early as this year" in Greece, and in April 2024 Aviation Week reported a target of the third quarter of 2024, blaming the flight-test programme for the delay. Its UK directors wrote in December 2025 of "the launch of revenue generation in 2026". A Greek postal deal with ELTA, an interline agreement with Qatar Airways Cargo and a manufacturing joint venture in the United Arab Emirates, planned to start serial production in 2025 with capacity for 300 aircraft a year, have been announced along the way; none has been reported as operating.

The Money

In February 2023 Dronamics raised $40 million in a pre-Series A round from Founders Factory, Speedinvest, SeedBlink, Eleven and Abu Dhabi's Strategic Development Fund. In June 2025 the EIC said it had put Dronamics forward for up to €30 million of equity under its Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform, with the decision to follow due diligence. Whether that investment has closed has not been announced.

The accounts of Dronamics Global Limited, the UK company, show no turnover and a loss of £36.7 million in 2023 and £8.0 million in 2024. At the end of 2024 it had £3.4 million in cash and net assets of £6.4 million, after £48.7 million of share premium and a £12.3 million capital contribution turned a £46.6 million deficit positive. The directors wrote that the group was preparing a round of at least €50 million, "expected to be completed in 2026", and that reliance on it "indicates the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast doubt on the Company's ability to continue as a going concern". The Bulgarian company that received the grant files its accounts separately.

Why Europe Should Care

The EIC has backed Dronamics three times: a grant, €10 million of equity and a selection for up to €30 million more. The company presents itself as "the only European company to repeatedly build, test and fly large cargo drones made entirely in Europe", and its 2026 announcements have moved towards defence and surveying. The EU paid for a cargo airline. Four years later the aircraft flies, but the airline has not started.

The Verdict

Dronamics has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, UK company filings, press reports and EU project data, linked throughout.