Large eVTOL joins China's national emergency firefighting exercise

The CarryAll Firefighting version develped by AutoFlight is in action amid the "Emergency Mission 2025" exercise held in Heilongjiang province. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)

The CarryAll Firefighting version — a two-ton electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developed by Autoflight, a leading eVTOL developer — participated for the first time in China's recent national-level "Emergency Mission 2025" exercise, marking a notable milestone in the use of large drones for emergency firefighting.

The aircraft took off vertically from a fire station in Jiagedaqi, located in Daxing'anling prefecture of Heilongjiang province, flew 22 kilometers across the Greater Khingan Range in eight minutes, and successfully dropped fire-extinguishing bombs and parachuted emergency supplies, demonstrating its rapid-response capabilities in remote, complex terrain.

Organized by the office of the National Commission for Disaster Prevention and the State Council Work Safety Committee, the exercise on emergency rescue operations for circuit breaks, network outages and power outages was designed for a novel rescue capability test. The event, which took place on June 24, attracted 1,456 technology submissions. The CarryAll Firefighting version was selected as one of over 130 showcased innovations.

As the first ton-class eVTOL used in a national firefighting exercise, the CarryAll supports vertical takeoff and landing without a runway, carries a 400-kilogram payload over distances of up to 200 kilometers, operates autonomously beyond visual line of sight both day and night and features target recognition and precision delivery.

The event demonstrated how low-altitude aviation technologies can be integrated into China's emergency response system, opening the door for wider use of eVTOLs in emergency rescue efforts nationwide.

Before this, eVTOL firefighting applications had primarily focused on high-rise urban buildings. In 2020, EHang launched the EH216-F, the world's first heavy-payload intelligent aerial firefighting eVTOL, capable of flying up to 600 meters and delivering 100 liters of fire suppression foam with precision.