- Portugal’s leading UAS builder, Tekever, has acquired Scotland’s Flowcopter according to a 1 September press release
- The rationale behind the move is to harness the company’s novel hydraulic transmission capability for heavy-lift UAS
- Notably, Tekever’s newly unveiled AR6 system relies on this novel propulsion system
Tekever has acquired Flowcopter, a Scottish aerospace company, already a close supplier in its uncrewed aerial system (UAS) component supply chain.
The move brings Flowcopter’s digital hydraulic transmission technology under Tekever’s control as the UAS builder brings its latest AR6 system to market. This latest system was first unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2026, where the company displayed a scale model.
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Production is already scheduled to begin by the end of this year at Tekever’s Swindon facility.
Hydraulic propulsion
The novel propulsion architecture enables this extended capability, Tekever claim.
It provides greater payload capacity, longer range and reliable performance beyond the supposed limitations of other heavy-lift electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) quadcopter systems.
“By combining a lightweight and rugged hydraulic system with a new generation of digital hydraulic pump technology, AR6 is designed to deliver greater control and efficiency while avoiding reliance on rare earth magnets,” a Tekever executive told this reporter at the time of the unveiling.
Up until now, he continued, the market has been dominated by short-range eVTOL systems, “creating a gap between tactical re-supply drones and larger crewed aircraft.”
This expansion is part of the OVERMATCH, Tekever’s long-term, £400m ($540.7m) investment programme expanding sovereign autonomy capabilities in the UK. The acquisition will preserve Flowcopter’s engineering presence in Edinburgh under the Tekever brand.
AR6 family
The AR6 family will deliver market leading payload capacity and endurance capable of lifting 200kg over 500km.
Military use cases include casualty evacuation, forward logistics, and combat wingman concepts – such the UK Apache teaming concept under Project Nyx.
Although the executive did not comment on specific platform submissions, they did assert that the project illustrates the type of mission and crewed-uncrewed teaming concept that AR6 “has been designed to support.”
Beyond any programme of record, the heavy-lift platform is designed with a focus on enabling a broad range of civilian and military missions, including logistics, offshore operations, medical support, search and rescue, disaster relief, forward logistics, casualty evacuation and combat wingman concepts.
