First flight 2013 Designer SF Express | Manufacturer SF Express | |
SF-Express UAV is a Chinese UAV developed by Shun-Feng Express Delivery (SF Express, 顺丰速运), which is an UAV intended for courier cargo delivery.
Octocopter
Octocopter is the first (and as of 2014, the only) UAV developed by SF Express. The UAV is in typical octocotper layout with a pair of skids as landing gear, and payload is sandwiched between the skids. SF Express octocopter completed flight test in September 2013 in Dongguan, and program has progressed into trial stage to perform actual delivery in the same year. Chinese government has not fully opened up the low altitude air space like western countries, and the existing governmental restrictions has prevented the direct delivery of cargo to customers in urban areas. SF Express has declared that the UAVs will be mainly used to deliver cargo in the remote region where using human couriers would not be economical. Specification: