Kratos To Build Elroy Air’s Chaparral Cargo Drone in Sacramento | Aviation International News

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Kratos To Build Chaparral Cargo VTOL in Sacramento

Elroy Air plans fourth-quarter public listing via SPAC

Elroy Air Chaparral — Kratos will build Elroy Air's Chaparral autonomous, hybrid-electric cargo aircraft in Sacramento, California.

By Charles Alcock • Managing Editor

July 23, 2026

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions will build Elroy Air’s Chaparral hybrid-electric autonomous VTOL cargo aircraft at its factory in Sacramento, California, with the first production airframes planned for late 2026. San Diego-based Kratos, which Elroy Air named its exclusive U.S. manufacturer under a five-year agreement in September 2025, said on July 20 that it will fulfill all U.S. customer orders from the site.

San Francisco-based Elroy is prioritizing demand for military use cases for the Chaparral, which has a range of 391 nm (450 miles), and the company has engaged with the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force for the past six years. In 2025, the California-based start-up initiated the FAA type certification process. However, it will address defense demand first, saying that this “represents a highly lucrative, immediate-revenue pathway because military operations are uniquely insulated from civilian airspace restrictions.”

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