# Bringing Fixed-Wing Endurance to the Drone-in-a-Box Category - Event: NestGen ’26 - Published: October 2, 2026 - Length: 29:37 - Watch: https://nestgen.org/library/watch/lLA7LUhqDjI/ > The transcript of a recorded NestGen session, for reading or for use with an AI tool. It comes from the video's > captions; automatic captions can mishear names and terms. ## About this session Most drone-in-a-box systems trade range and endurance for a small takeoff and landing footprint. For operators covering large sites or long linear assets, that tradeoff can shape how much docking infrastructure a program ends up needing. In this NestGen showcase, Starling will introduce how fixed-wing endurance is being brought to the drone-in-a-box category, and what teams should think through when evaluating fixed-wing autonomy for missions that need to cover more ground on fewer flights. ## Transcript **[0:00]** Hello everyone and welcome to Nation 2026. My name is Pranjal and I'm part of the solutions engineering team here at Flight Base. Absolutely grateful to have you all here with us today. This next session is about something a little different. Not a multi-rotor drone, but a dog system for a fixed-wing aircraft that takes off and lands vertically, then cruises efficiently on its wings. We're calling it bringing fixed-wing endurance to the drone-in-a-box category. And today's guest is going to show us what that changes for long corridors, large properties, and wide area missions. Before we get started, I would love to know who's joining us today. Please drop a quick note in the chat letting us know where you're joining from and what you're most excited uh for today. If you have any questions, please feel free to, you know, drop them in the Q&A tab and we'll tackle them at the end of the session. Also, this session is being recorded. So, if you miss anything, don't worry, we'll send you a copy of **[1:01]** uh the presentation to all the registered attendees afterward. And please share your takeaways on LinkedIn and Twitter using the tag #Nation2026. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Joining us today is Ido Gur, founder and CEO of Starling. Ido is an aerospace engineer with a background spanning military aviation and autonomous drone systems. He has served in the Israeli Air Force. We really headed the advanced UAV group and led teams responsible for aircraft performance, stability, control, and structural loads. He also holds holds a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Technion. Before Starling, Ido co-founded and served as the CEO of Easy Aerial, building drone-in-a-box solutions for defense, public safety, and industrial applications. At Starling, he leads development of long endurance autonomous aircraft and automated hubs. So, yeah, Uh over to you, Edo, if you could, you know, start with the introduction, **[2:02]** uh if you can go ahead with the session. >> Thank you very much, sir. Very proud to be here, very happy to be here. Um >> [snorts] >> Can you see my screen? >> Yes. >> All right. Uh let's do slide. Um Um okay. So, my name is Edo, and I'm the CEO and and the founder of Starling. And um For for many years, I've been wanting to um um combine find the uh endurance and flight time of fixed-wing with the autonomy and the um remote operation of a drone in a box. And um uh uh you know, 2 and 1/2 years ago when we started uh Starling, it was really the question, can it be done? Can we take **[3:03]** um endurance and speed and and performance of a fixed-wing and make it small enough to to fit um you know, a drone in a box that we all know and and like and love. Um Let me see if Yeah, we can do it with a slideshow. Uh please, if there's any questions, just let me know when I'm presenting. So, this is what we did. Uh 2 and 1/2 years ago, we started the company, and the idea was to again, develop a a um fixed-wing drone, but to make it um unique that when we fold it, when we fold the wings, when we fold the tail, it can fit a small dock, a small a small hub. As as was presented, this is my actually my second drone in a box company. I uh uh originally uh uh was a co-founder and CEO of a a quadcopter in a box. **[4:04]** And there's obviously a lot of benefits with a quad in a box, remote operation, using FlytBase for example, uh of course one of the best softwares. And uh you have autonomy, remote operation, it works, it gets in the hub, charges the battery, maybe su uh swaps the battery depends on the hub. And then it goes again. But the problem with with a quadcopter or the difficulty is it can only fly for certain amount of time, usually 30, 40 minutes. Uh and can only fly you know certain distance. And the goal again here was to combine fixed wing performance with um with autonomy and remote operation of a drone in a box. So these are the two products that we brought to market. We brought it to market about a year and a half ago. And I'm very happy to say that we are now in nine countries, uh adding a new country uh uh every month. And um so our our fixed wing drone, it's a group one, uh 7 kg. Uh it's called the **[5:06]** Pathfinder. And our uh dock is called Starling Hub, which I will get into details later. But these are the two products that together they really form this um solution that uh we just uh I just mentioned. So just diving into a few numbers and a few, you know, photos. Um I know it's a big font. So 160 km, that's really a big number. This is the number that uh of the distance that the drone can fly from one point to the other um with one battery. And you know, with a with a quadcopter it would be 10, 15, five, you know, depend on the quadcopter. So, this is really a you know, a 10x, a 15x uh enhancement in performance. Not every mission need it, and I think the most important thing in this discussion today would be to talk about where this is actually needed versus where a quad is needed. And um my philosophy is that both solutions are complementary. They are not **[6:12]** um competing in most cases. They are really There is a good solution for every problem, and as as long as you find the problem correctly, this in this product will take off and land in different hubs. It's actually very natural to the system because uh every hub and every drone are another node in in in a mesh system. So, we can literally take far from one box, let's say, you know, 150 km, just to get some spell for wind, and then another box, another box, another box. Um So, where where the range matters the most. So, just to to describe what is this product actually do, how does it work? So, um It it's a it's a fixed-wing veto with folding wings and folding tail. So, it's in the box, the wings fold up, and the tail fold up, and it's like a square. **[7:12]** Um and when the platform opens up, the wings uh fold out and lock themselves, the wing the tail fold out and lock themselves, lock themselves, and then it takes off vertically. Usually around 20, 30, 40 m, depends on regulation and um terrain. Um we the the airplane starts transition forward, it accelerate itself, and then automatically uh transition to forward flight. Uh turns off the hovering motors and then push itself forward with the push of >> [snorts] >> with the push of motors with the forward flight motors, which we have two on the wing tips. Um we fly to the area. We circle around or we hover. We going to talk about the trade-offs uh later, but this this product has the option to get to a scene and then go to hover like a quadcopter. Um **[8:13]** and then of course fly back, land itself in the box autonomously. The the hub swaps the battery and then it goes again. So, we'll talk about every one of those steps. Um what's the benefit for example swapping a battery over charging um uh flying in circles versus uh hovering, but we can uh our mission is in in uh includes all those steps of the activity. So, in terms of of configuration, we have uh four lift motors to take off and land and two uh forward motors to um to fly forward in the wing tip. It's a quite a a unique design and it's also um a plane form that is called a flying wing. Um the entire wingspan from tip to tip is uh 1.6 m and and the box is less than 1 m. So, that's the magic. How do you take a 1.6 m **[9:19]** drone and you fold it in a way that fits in [clears throat] in a relatively small box. Um 1 m by 1 m. Uh the box by the way is only 40 kg. So, it's a lightweight box or hub. Uh some photos from the Dubai Air Show. Um just you know, showing uh some some people, visitors, how does the flower, how does the box actually fold the wings and the tail once it goes down. Um The The hub itself has some very unique features. For example, a no battery arm swapper, which allows us to swap batteries fast and reliably without any robotic arms. It takes about 30 seconds to swap a battery and about 50 seconds from take from landing to take off to be in the air in the air again. So, the entire cycle is less than 50 seconds. **[10:23]** Battery swapping is obviously more complex than charging, but we believe installing that the added benefit of being able to be in the air in less than 1 minute is is worth the the complexity. And you know, we have solved that to enable really true autonomy. You can do 2 and 1/2 hours, 1 minute, and then another 2 and 1/2 hours, 1 minute, another 2 and 1/2 hours. Really brings this 24/7 approach to a drone in a box. I'm going to skip the video. It's available on YouTube. And just talk about some some some trade-off and some um discussions about where is quad actually better than fixed wing, where is fixed wing better than quad, and how do you combine the two. Um and you know, this this is a very important figure because this is **[11:25]** specifically for for the Pathfinder, for our product. So, our product can, you know, hover for 40 minutes, or it can forward flight for 150. Right? So, it's easy to see that you know, there's you know, a 1:4 ratio, basically. Um every every minute of hovering is 4 minutes of forward flight. And some mission requires you to hover because, you know, because the operator knows how to uh hover. Maybe it's a tight space. Maybe he needs to follow a specific event. Maybe, you know, in a in a police environment or another uh situation. So, there are proper places or there are times where uh hovering uh using, you know, quad um mode um is really beneficial for the mission. But, the trade-off is that it's, you know, a 1:4 ratio, right? Um there are other **[12:25]** fixed-wings, you know, a few that were just recently uh published in the last couple of days, that they that cannot hover. That can They can only fly forward. So, we were we we are trying on the Pathfinder to combine two modes of operations. And um you can decide to go to hover any number of times during the mission. You can fly forward, go to hover, do it for, you know, 3-5 minutes, go to forward flight, go back. Um but the the trade-off is very clear in terms of energy. Uh there's also, you know, a few caveats on the bottom. This is for 7 kg aircraft, you know, sea level, 80 85% battery, and so on. Uh numbers also depends, of course, on the temperature and wind. This is the the typical numbers. If you take uh a specific mission for an example, uh let's talk about a mission that is 50 km uh away uh from from the hub. So, that will be like uh let's say like an average um **[13:32]** average to you know, medium long range. Um So, in in that case it will take off, transition, you know, fly let's say about 45 minutes. Um and we'll spend 30 minutes on the task. Let's say in this case circling, right? Not hovering. If you wanted to hover it would be for uh less than 10 minutes. And uh then we fly 45 minutes back and we have a 30-minute reserve. Um when we analyze missions, we usually look at 30, 50, and 70 km away from the hub, right? And how much uh effective time we have on the target to provide to you know, do our mission. Some missions you just need to go, spend a minute at at at the point, right? Just maybe take a photo or some evidence and then fly back. Uh but some missions you have to stay for an hour on site. So, that trade-off between the the transition time and **[14:37]** how how much time it takes to get to the scene and how much time you need to be on the scene. In this case in 50 km, it's about 30 minutes on the scene uh again with the spares and everything else that is mentioned here. Another way to look at that is in a how many hubs or how many sites are needed to you know, cover a patch. In this case it's 100 km. Uh it's it's you know, take taken from um one of our examples. Uh so sorry from one of our customers. But it also combines the requirements of how many times you need to be in a specific area every hour and so on. So, when you take all of that all of the all of the conditions um which is the length of the inspected area, um the time requirement from a call to be on site, and how many times do you have to visit every site uh per hour or per day, it really puts you um in a place where you **[15:41]** can compare a lot of let's say quad docks against or uh the other option is a lower number of fixed-wing uh hubs uh that can fly for longer, right? So, in this case, it was seven fuel sites uh that we showed. In terms of um you know, operating uh multi-drones at the same time, uh obviously that depends on the software in the command room. It's where we, you know, uh we partner uh with with FlytBase and um and and uh we we are really happy to be able to use uh the software to operate uh multiple uh tools from the same uh station. Um in terms of operation, it is not more difficult or it's not easier than than than a quad. Um there's no need to uh take any specific precautions or any any specific activities. Um you command a **[16:48]** speed at that the system knows automatically if to use the hovering props or the forward um uh motors um and to combine uh uh all the six. There's also no stall in this aircraft um as the uh hovering props uh kick in automatically when the speed is uh too low. In terms of uh of the hub, just a few a few photos and of uh you know points of information. There are two spare packs in the in the hub. So once the again the drone lands using this QR code and the and and the structure collapses it in and folds the wing and the tail. Uh the the hub swaps to a new battery and then the drone takes off and you know can do another mission. That battery starts charging or the charger is you know 80 90 minutes usually to do go to 120 when it's hot. Um and there's also **[17:53]** another spare pack. So if you finish your battery quickly and and you can finish your battery quickly by two ways, by hovering or by flying very fast, okay? If you fly very fast, you fly inefficient, you can you know use the battery uh quicker and then it will again that's the key. Landing in the box, get a new battery and so on. Uh I cannot see any questions if there are any so I'm just going to go quickly and finish the presentation in two or three minutes. Any question will be appreciated. >> [sighs] >> Um >> [gasps] >> When we say that the geography sets the feet, uh we really mean it in the sense that again there's places where multi rotors are are really great, especially in you know local inspections, maybe even between buildings and this you have to hover where you have to you know maneuver, uh you have to fly low for for from some reason. **[18:53]** Um It's where multi rotors are really great. And and the fixed wings are are really you know are really beneficial when there's long routes, you have assets that needs to you know have a a lot transition between between them or you really need that that speed. Um I didn't mention but the top speed of this specific aircraft is 100 miles an hour. So you know, like a a mission can be a high-speed car chase, right? For police, basically replacing helicopters. So also the speed, the endurance performance, um but usually fly higher, usually you know, do not fly um you don't have it unless you have to. This This product can hover but then you spend and the energy and you don't use the the fixed-wing benefits. So really the the you know, the last question that I I I bring it up for you know, **[19:56]** for for discussion if there are any questions or you know, how much useful work can one site uh deliver, how much useful work in one hub can deliver. Um we have been trying very hard to bring this new paradigm to the market of folding fixed-wing in a hub that can fit you know, can fit in my own car. It fits the Santa Fe. Um so a small a small hub that can fit a fixed-wing that you get the autonomy and remote operation of a drone in a box together with the endurance, the speed, and the distance of a fixed-wing. Hopefully that was interesting. Um I'm going to >> Yeah. >> uh stop sharing. >> Yep. Thank you. I don't think that definitely is very interesting and that gives us a lot to dig into. I believe we do have a few questions in the Q&A section. So I **[21:01]** can take you know, start from one of them. So there's a question, what payloads can the Starling aircraft carry and is it limited to a camera? Does it What kind of sensors does it support? >> So, the question. So, we currently have 11 types of camera that we offer. We don't make any of them. Our maximum payload is 1.8 kg. And again, for until now, it was all cameras, either photo or EOIR cameras. We are open to more um options in the future. >> That's good. And do do you also have any, you know, additional Most of the payloads are third party, right? That you can connect directly to the docks. **[22:02]** >> Yeah, I mean, all of our all of our payloads are third party. We do not make payloads or make radios. So, from communication and payload perspective, we have a list of partners. >> Yeah. >> And we offer them. In general, I didn't mention, but it's a completely open architecture. Um We use MAVLink. And ArduPlane. So, it's all very standard configuration. And we believe in collaborations. So, everything is transparent and open to partners. >> Definitely. And because the interface is quite standard, it would be a lot easy to integrate any third-party payloads as well. So, I think that definitely answers question from Daniel. Another question from Daniel is how does increasing or reducing payload affect the hover and the forward flight endurance? **[23:03]** >> So, the the the numbers that were shown on the presentation of a 7 kg um airplane which also which already includes um let's say a medium uh a medium weight payload. Um there's an option to put a heavier payload. It will obviously reduce some performance and there's a there's a whole handbook. Uh we also have a simulator based on Google Maps that you know you can plan the missions and you know and simulate the mission and see how much flight times you have you know before you fly it. Um The answer you know it's it's a few minutes and like it can go from 2 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours obviously if it's a big payload but uh All the information is available and we'll be happy to share it. Um >> Yeah. >> with anyone. >> Um another question that comes is you know fixed-wing aircraft can't usually hover and for use cases like inspection where you would not need to stop and look at **[24:07]** something closely, how does you know Starling or the Pathfinder handle that? I know you've addressed that you like the drone itself can hover but yeah any thoughts on that? >> Yeah I mean as I mentioned this specific configuration can also hover but it is not efficient in power. So some inspections you can do while reducing your speed and take the photo without going to hover and that's the best way. It depends on the analytics and the camera. If the analytics and the camera require you to go to hover, it's very simple. You just command uh zero speed. It will automatically go to hover and then you command it you know to go to the next point it will transition. It is just inefficient in terms of energy. But it's >> Understood. Um another question is uh how does a you know fixed-wing dock look like in practices practice and how does the launch and recovery uh system work? You **[25:10]** know, for multi-rotor drones usually uh you know, the dock opens and uh it lands down uh you know, it descends the drone descends, right? So, when the question is how does the entire recovery system work? How is the transition between the different phases would have happen? >> Well, it's exactly the same. So, uh it's a veto and it lands exactly like a quad inside. Um it's all fully automatic. There's no human touch, obviously. Um in in what I just saw, it's a QR-based day and night and lands the QR sees the QR code and lands in the box. Uh it it is a small box. It's uh 0.9 by 0.9 m. So, it's you know, smaller than a Skydio dock and um it's only 40 kg. It's a very lightweight dock. Um and I think the trick or the trick the um you know, the smartness is the way that this structure moves when it goes **[26:13]** down, it folds the wings and the tail. So, the size of the box is actually the quad motors. >> Understood. Um another question is uh you know, how does the regulatory picture uh look like for fixed-wing BVLOS? Uh you know, what's the process like? Have you had any experiences before with any of the customers? Uh yeah. >> Yes, of course. So, uh first of all, it's very dependent on the country. Um in terms of the of the regulation, it is not different than a quad. Um We are actually um a group one. So, we are 7 kg. So, in terms of the 7 kg, it doesn't matter, at least in the US and some other places, if the 7 kg has a fixed wing or it if it's a quad, it's the same. If if any uh the the the fixed wing is is safer because it, you know, in it can actually glide **[27:18]** if there's like a total power loss or something like that, this can actually glide and and still um get away from harm. Um but to what I know it at least, the um the BVLOS uh regulation, it's a 7 kg airplane. It doesn't matter if it's have a fixed wing or quad. >> Understood. And the final question, uh does the system require just one data link to operate to 160 km or, you know, are there any relay or LTE systems that are also in place? >> Yeah. Uh so, specifically the Pathfinder can take up to three radios at the same time. So, we do offer uh different point-to-points. Uh we do offer cellular. On cellular, um we have this great product called the Halo, which has uh four SIM cards. Um and we also have um um Satcom. **[28:18]** So, we have Satcom and and and and uh cellular and point-to-point. You don't have to choose all three at the same time. Obviously, that adds some weight. But um depends on on the mission that needs to be flown, and we will recommend according to the uh mission that you described. So, we will help you set up the radios and choose the right thing. >> That's great. Uh that was a really insightful uh discussion, Edo. And thank you so much for sharing your journey and as well as, you know, the entire Starling Pathfinder system and the details that you've mentioned have been really valuable and it clearly, you know, like identifies a need in the market for such fixed-wing drone systems. So, thank you also to everyone who had joined in, you know, sent such questions. If you'd like to learn more about Starling, you can find them at starling systems.com and we'll also share the recording to all the registered attendees as well. So, **[29:21]** yeah. Thank you, Eedo. Thank you, everyone for joining this session and please enjoy the rest of the session 2026. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Bye-bye. >> Yeah. Bye-bye.