Drone developer Windracers has gained approval from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to launch the country’s first international unmanned aerial system (UAS) flight for civil purposes.
On September 26, 2025, Windracers confirmed that permission had been given to fly its heavy lift drone ULTRA between UK airspace and the adjoining airspace of another state.
Approval from the CAA was granted on September 16, 2025, alongside Luftfartstilsynet, the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway, allowing the ULTRA drone to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) from Tingwall Airport (LWK) in the Shetlands to Haugesund Airport (HAU) in Norway.
Windracers said that the approval was “enabled by the creation of temporary danger areas, providing a controlled corridor to facilitate the flight”.
The airspace covers 235 miles (378 km) from Shetland, over the North Sea, and across the Scottish/Polaris Flight Information Region (FIR) boundary into Norwegian airspace.
“This airspace approval is a major landmark for both Windracers and the wider UAS sector and shows how the UK and Norway CAAs are acting as enabling regulators supporting the future of aviation. Windracers ULTRA is already flying real-world missions today,” said Simon Muderack, CEO at Windracers.
He added: “We can now prove those capabilities across international airspace – opening new possibilities for how we connect remote communities and deliver essential services.”
The approval process focused on how current day regulations could be used and how best to overcome a range of challenges, including safety, liability, international obligations and environmental mitigations around the planned flight.
“Our airspace regulation team rose to the challenge by enabling an airspace change request through smart use of existing structures and regulatory processes,” said Jon Round, Head of Airspace, Air Traffic Management & Aerodrome Airspace at the CAA.
Windracers ULTRA is capable of transporting a useful load of up to 150 kg with a range of up to 1,000 km.
In a recent project the ULTRA drone has been assisting scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to collect data on previously unchartered areas of the ice laden landscape.
Later this year, Windracers will launch a new operational hub in Malawi to support middle-mile delivery of humanitarian across Africa.
In January 2025, Windracer unveiled its newest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), ULTRA MK2. The ULTRA MK2, which was developed at Southampton University, has a 10m-wingspan, travelling up to 1,000 km at 77 knots with a cargo capacity of 150kg.
