Revolutionizing Heavy Vertical Lift Aviation
Live Virtual WebinarThe DARPA Lift Challenge team will host a live virtual webinar via Zoom on Dec. 4, 2025. The purpose of this event is to provide information to potential competitors ahead of the January 2026 application period. Those interested in attending the live event must register to participate. Attendance is voluntary and not required to apply for the Challenge. A replay will be available later on darpa.mil/lift. |
As military missions become more complicated, warfighters need more capable drones to use across diverse scenarios. The same also applies to civilian applications, like infrastructure inspection, package delivery, and disaster response.
Current multirotor drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), provide simplicity, affordability, and ease of operation; however, their primary limitation is their low payload-to-weight ratio, which typically falls at 1:1 or less.
The DARPA Lift Challenge aims to shatter the heavy lift bottleneck, seeking novel drone designs that can carry payloads more than four times their weight, which would revolutionize the way we use drones across all sectors.
By offering $6.5 million in prize money, the Lift Challenge seeks to incentivize university researchers, independent innovators and industry to set a new standard in vertical lift performance.
