The Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone took off from Llanbedr, Wales, and flew into Eryri National Park and up to 10km offshore.

Alongside uAvionix and BVLOS specialist operator Skyfarer, BT and IE aimed to demonstrate that the hydrogen-powered application could safely reach the current range limit set by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

“The trial was another strong validation of what hydrogen fuel cells can achieve in UAV applications,” according to Andy Kelly, Head of Product Line at Intelligent Energy.

The British technology firm provided its IE-SOAR system, which can deliver power from 800W to 2.4kW for commercial and industrial drones.

Control of the drone was maintained through uAvionix’s SkyLine system, combining C-Band cellular and satellite links for long-range command and control.

“The combination of reliable long-range communications and the extended flight time of our IE-SOAR system shows how hydrogen power can move UAV operations to the next level – enabling real-world, long-distance missions that battery systems simply can’t deliver,” Kelly added.

Hydrogen fuel cells deliver far higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries, enabling hours of flight and rapid refuelling with only water vapour emissions, though commercial viability remains unproven.