At Kitemill, we're proud to share a significant step forward in the development of our airborne wind energy system, KM1. As part of the EU-funded AWE-KM2 project, our team recently demonstrated controlled VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) sequences, including auto-landing procedures—key progress toward enabling fully autonomous operations.

In the first video below, we share a live demonstration of KM1 taking off and landing autonomously. While we continue to refine this functionality for robustness across a broader spectrum of weather and operational conditions, this flight marks a solid step toward achieving one of AWE-KM2’s core milestones: safe, repeatable automated landings. This is essential groundwork as we push toward Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) and 24/7 autonomous operation goals.

🚁 Video 1: VTOL Auto-Start and Landing Demonstration

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🎯 Focus: Workflow validation and control algorithm maturity under test field conditions

But achieving milestones in autonomy isn’t our only recent success. Over the past three months, Kitemill has reached a new record in test flight frequency—conducting more KM1 flights in a single quarter than ever before. The second video highlights the gimbal VTOL flight mode and illustrates how our field operations team has implemented an efficient, scalable workflow that allows rapid testing without overextending personnel.

🚀 Video 2: VTOL Gimbal Flight – Operational Workflow in Action

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📊 Focus: Maximizing field testing while maintaining high engineering throughput

This operational excellence has a strategic benefit: it allows a larger portion of our team to remain focused on engineering and R&D tasks, rather than being tied up in repetitive field work. The result is a positive feedback loop—more data, more learning, faster iteration—fueling the accelerated development of KM1.

These accomplishments reflect our continued commitment to both technological innovation and operational discipline, which are essential for bringing airborne wind energy to market. With strong support from the European Union through AWE-KM2, we're scaling with purpose.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue advancing flight automation, system reliability, and the energy solutions of tomorrow.

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