Freespace
Freespace ·
The drone industry has long chased a singular technical breakthrough that many believed was decades away: Cooperative Lift.
Article
Freespace ·
For decades, the energy sector has relied on two primary methods for line stringing: ground crews dragging cables through the bush, or manned helicopters flying dangerously low to thread pilot ropes between towers.
Article
Freespace ·
Freespace Operations was founded in 2019 by engineers Ken King and Leonard Hall, both with hands on experience in drone development, advanced engineering, and mission operations.
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Coverage
Sky News Australia
Cooperative lift grew out of ship operations, where the Callisto is brought into tight formation with a moving deck to move material on and off it. Refining that coupling lets two or more aircraft fly as a single entity.
Cooperative lift takes loads past what one aircraft carries to about 100 kg, on aircraft sized for the vessels that carry them.
5/7RAR training soldiers in robotic and autonomous systems at Exercise Black Prince, Cultana, toward Army's first RAS-ready battle group.
Army News (opens in a new tab)Freespace opens a 1,100 square metre manufacturing facility, with capacity for more than 100 aircraft a year and a team growing to about 30.
Asian Aviation (opens in a new tab)Heavy-lift uncrewed aircraft with Battlegroup Anzac at Exercise Black Prince 3, the Callisto 50 simulating supply drops for the battlegroup.
Australian Aviation (opens in a new tab)Australia's donation to the Philippine Coast Guard, including a Callisto 25 heavy-lift drone, in support of the coast guard's modernisation.
SCMP (opens in a new tab)Several Callisto 50 aircraft carrying one load of up to 100 kg, four times what one lifts, for missions once limited to helicopters.
DroneLife (opens in a new tab)Ken King and Leonard Hall on cooperative lift, several Callisto 50 aircraft sharing one load of up to 100 kg, and Freespace since 2019.
Forbes Australia (opens in a new tab)Callisto 50 aircraft balancing and carrying one load of up to 100 kg between them, for cargo at sea and in hazardous environments.
Australian Aviation (opens in a new tab)The cooperative lift announcement for a defence readership, Callisto 50 aircraft carrying up to 100 kg between them in place of helicopters.
Defence Connect (opens in a new tab)Callisto 50 aircraft carrying loads of up to 100 kg together, building on the ship operations work shown at Talisman Sabre 2025.
Australian Defence Magazine (opens in a new tab)The Navy's trial of the Callisto 50 at Talisman Sabre 2025, carrying a 25 kg underslung payload so stores arrive without a helicopter.
Australian Aviation (opens in a new tab)Defence's release on the Callisto 50 trial with Navy Minor Project 1983, relieving helicopters and their crews of stores runs at sea.
Department of Defence (opens in a new tab)
