Article Rewritten

Kawasaki is a company with a wide range of products. They manufacture dirt bikes, off-road mules, go-fast UTVs, workman ATVs, supercharged superbikes, classically-styled cafe racers, and VTOL drones powered by superbike engines. They even have a horse in their lineup.

Despite knowing about all these products, it still surprises me when Kawasaki ventures into new areas of mobility and transportation beyond their Ninja sportbike line. Their latest project involves building UAVs for commercial cargo delivery, a departure from their usual offerings.

Kawasaki has partnered with Dronamics to supply engines for the Black Swan unmanned cargo plane. This collaboration will involve developing a piston engine specifically for the drone. The Black Swan UAV is designed to accommodate various engine configurations, including a Kawasaki powerplant based on the H2 motor. The drone has a payload capacity of 770 pounds and a range of 1,359 nautical miles, making it suitable for commercial applications.

Before announcing the partnership, Hiroshi Tomomori, Kawasaki's managing executive officer for the Aviation Systems Group, expressed excitement about the collaboration with Dronamics. He believes that combining Kawasaki's engine expertise with Dronamics's UAV technology will lead to innovative propulsion systems for unmanned and general aviation aircraft.

It seems like Kawasaki's foray into UAVs may be inspired by futuristic concepts like those seen in Top Gun: Maverick.