Rocket Fast Drones
"Fast to load and launch · Fast to fly · Fast to save."
Brisbane maker of case-launched tail-sitter VTOL drones; its EP250 cruises at 143 km/h and carries blood to the point of injury for AEROMed.
Rocket Fast Drones (RFD), of Brisbane, designs, 3D-prints and flies small, fast tail-sitting VTOL drones. Per its sites, Rocket Fast Drones Pty Ltd is a subsidiary of Outer Loop Engineering Pty Ltd, which owns and licenses the AEROMed trademark to RFD. Founder and CEO Dr Joni Sytsma is an aerospace engineer in hypersonics, rocketry and guidance/navigation/control; the company says her two decades span the US Air Force Research Laboratory to Australian rocket launches. Flying started in 2022.
All aircraft share one architecture, EP-Phi, scaled by launch-tube diameter. The flagship EP250 launches vertically from a rugged case, thrust-vectors into wing-borne flight and lands vertically, reusable. Figures RFD says it measured in flight: 4.5 kg take-off, 1 kg payload, 143 km/h cruise, 179 km/h maximum, ~30 km dash range, ~15 km mission radius, ~10 minutes endurance, flight in 30 km/h winds. Navigation combines GPS with visual-inertial odometry. The larger EP450 (4.93 kg, 750 g payload) hovered with wing fitted on 13 August 2026; its cruise and range figures remain predicted. EP90 and EP150: expendable tube-launched aircraft in development for counter-UAS; EP150L is a recoverable variant. Electric and heavy-fuel 18-50 kg designs remain concept studies.
AEROMed, the lead mission, uses the EP250 to carry blood and medical payloads to the point of injury. RFD also offers disaster-response imaging, remote sensing, ship-launched maritime work, target drones and counter-UAS evaluation, the last in its own simulator, flying hundreds of aircraft on the real autopilot software. Browser-based ground control is in field testing.
RFD flies under its own CASA remote operator certificate and took a West End workshop in August 2026. Support: a Queensland Defence Science Alliance collaborative research grant, the UNSW Founders Defence 10x accelerator (2025), Defence Trailblazer. In September 2026 the US Army named it one of 30 xTech Apex Intercept finalists (Topic 4).
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
EP250
Case-launched tail-sitting electric VTOL drone built for speed; RFD's flagship and most-flown aircraft.
AEROMed
Autonomous emergency medical resupply on the EP250, delivering blood and medical payloads to the point of injury.
EP450
One-size-up successor to the EP250 with about twice the thrust for heavier payloads and longer range.
EP150
750 g canard-steered aircraft launched from a 150 mm tube; RFD's first airframe and a counter-UAS candidate.
EP150L
Recoverable EP150 variant that swaps canards for thrust vectoring and lands vertically for reuse.
EP90
750 g aircraft launched from a 90 mm tube with folding grid wings, under development for counter-UAS.
RFD simulation architecture
Fleet-scale simulator running real autopilot code, for design, operator training and counter-UAS evaluation.
RFD browser ground control
Web-browser ground control station for RFD aircraft, shared with the simulator; in field testing.
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Contact Rocket Fast Drones
WEBSITE
https://rocketfastdrones.com/HEADQUARTERS
Australia
Company Facts
Founded
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Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Oceania
Annual Sales
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Funding Stage
Subsidiary / Acquired
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Keywords
- Rocket Fast Drones
- RFD
- Rocket Fast Drones Pty Ltd
- tail-sitter vtol
- thrust vectoring
- tube-launched uav
- blood delivery
- medical resupply
- high-speed uav
- 3d-printed airframe
- flight simulation
- target drone
- sovereign manufacturing
- Manufacturer
- Software/Algorithm
- Drone/eVTOL
- Control & Software
- Delivery Drone
- Counter Drone
- Healthcare & Senior Care
