DSEI 2025: Dutch High Eye presents its HEO2 helicopter drone to increase autonomous surveillance capabilities
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High Eye’s HEO2 rotary-wing unmanned aircraft was on the floor at DSEI 2025 in London. It is a compact helicopter UAV built for persistent ISR and overwatch, the kind of mission where endurance and reliability are essential. It flies on liquid fuel rather than batteries, takes off and lands vertically, and carries the familiar suite of electro-optical and infrared sensors in a stabilized turret under the nose. The air vehicle sits in the 30 kg class, with an empty weight of a little over twenty kilos and headroom for a mission payload that can reach seven kilos depending on fuel planning. With a typical three-kilo sensor fit, the company quotes more than four hours on station.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
High Eye HEO2 is a fuel-driven VTOL helicopter UAV for persistent ISR with over 4 hours endurance carrying a 3 kg EO/IR payload, up to 7 kg capacity, line-of-sight control to 100 km, weather-sealed electronics, GNSS-denied resilience, autorotation and optional flotation kit (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).
Where the HEO2 differs from the swarm of small quadcopters is the aircraft type. It is a dual-rotor helicopter, behaving like a manned light helicopter without the crew risk. That pays off in hover performance, in handling during crosswinds, and in the way operators can hold a steady camera view at low speed without carving wide orbits. The published flight envelope is practical, with about 35 knots endurance speed, roughly 45 knots is the most efficient for range, and the never-exceed number is 75 knots. It is faster and tougher in bad weather than many multirotors, yet it keeps vertical takeoff and landing which fixed-wing UAS still lack.
The payload bay offers a 24 VDC supply around 350 W continuous. Ethernet is available for data, which makes sensor swaps less difficult. The communications plan is equally pragmatic. Line-of-sight control is listed at roughly 100 km in ordinary terrain, with options to use cellular backhaul where policy allows. Frequency support runs from sub-gigahertz into the 5 GHz range, and encryption is part of the baseline rather than a bolt-on. High Eye has tested autorotation, giving the aircraft a fall-back if the engine quits at altitude. An emergency flotation kit is available for maritime users, a small but meaningful thing if the mission is pier security or pipeline inspection. Environmental sealing is robust, with the airframe and avionics protected against dust and rain, and operating limits that cover northern winters and hot summer airfields. The avionics stack includes spoofing and jamming detection and can keep dead-reckoning when GNSS coverage is unreliable. Together they shorten the path to an operational waiver over towns, ports or air bases.
Picture a convoy escort moving at 30 to 40 knots on mixed roads. A small fixed-wing UAS would have to fly racetracks and constantly correct for geometry. The helicopter simply sits above the lead vehicles, 200 to 300 meters up, and watches for choke points or ambush signatures. For a border unit, four hours endurance with a three-kilo sensor means one aircraft can cover a dawn shift without frequent refuel, yet still land with reserves. On a coast, the float kit and corrosion-minded build let it fly box patterns at a harbor entrance, hand off video to a patrol boat, then recover on a small pad tucked behind containers. The 24 V payload bus also opens mixed missions. A gimbal plus a compact mesh radio turns the aircraft into a pop-up relay for teams working in dead ground. If something goes wrong, there is an emergency mode and a glide path that looks like a plan rather than a wish.
The broader context around Europe makes the HEO2’s proposition easier to understand. Armed forces and internal security agencies are buying persistence, not just airframes. The fighting in Ukraine has normalised drones at every echelon and put electronic warfare at the center of the conversation. Border agencies from the Baltics to the Balkans are asked to watch more ground with fewer crews, often in rough weather and with limited infrastructure. Maritime security has become a routine grind of pipeline monitoring, ship approaches and port perimeters that manned helicopters cannot cover affordably. In that climate, a small VTOL that stays airborne for hours, tolerates rain, lands almost anywhere and keeps working when GPS gets noisy is going to land on shortlists. The HEO2 looks like a product of that environment. It avoids gimmicks, leans into reliability, and offers enough power and data to carry the sensors operators actually want rather than demo payloads. If fielded systems deliver as shown on the stand, units would get a compact helicopter UAV with genuine endurance, a straightforward integration path, and a safety case that satisfies commanders and regulators.
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High Eye’s HEO2 rotary-wing unmanned aircraft was on the floor at DSEI 2025 in London. It is a compact helicopter UAV built for persistent ISR and overwatch, the kind of mission where endurance and reliability are essential. It flies on liquid fuel rather than batteries, takes off and lands vertically, and carries the familiar suite of electro-optical and infrared sensors in a stabilized turret under the nose. The air vehicle sits in the 30 kg class, with an empty weight of a little over twenty kilos and headroom for a mission payload that can reach seven kilos depending on fuel planning. With a typical three-kilo sensor fit, the company quotes more than four hours on station.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
High Eye HEO2 is a fuel-driven VTOL helicopter UAV for persistent ISR with over 4 hours endurance carrying a 3 kg EO/IR payload, up to 7 kg capacity, line-of-sight control to 100 km, weather-sealed electronics, GNSS-denied resilience, autorotation and optional flotation kit (Picture source: Army Recognition Group).
Where the HEO2 differs from the swarm of small quadcopters is the aircraft type. It is a dual-rotor helicopter, behaving like a manned light helicopter without the crew risk. That pays off in hover performance, in handling during crosswinds, and in the way operators can hold a steady camera view at low speed without carving wide orbits. The published flight envelope is practical, with about 35 knots endurance speed, roughly 45 knots is the most efficient for range, and the never-exceed number is 75 knots. It is faster and tougher in bad weather than many multirotors, yet it keeps vertical takeoff and landing which fixed-wing UAS still lack.
The payload bay offers a 24 VDC supply around 350 W continuous. Ethernet is available for data, which makes sensor swaps less difficult. The communications plan is equally pragmatic. Line-of-sight control is listed at roughly 100 km in ordinary terrain, with options to use cellular backhaul where policy allows. Frequency support runs from sub-gigahertz into the 5 GHz range, and encryption is part of the baseline rather than a bolt-on. High Eye has tested autorotation, giving the aircraft a fall-back if the engine quits at altitude. An emergency flotation kit is available for maritime users, a small but meaningful thing if the mission is pier security or pipeline inspection. Environmental sealing is robust, with the airframe and avionics protected against dust and rain, and operating limits that cover northern winters and hot summer airfields. The avionics stack includes spoofing and jamming detection and can keep dead-reckoning when GNSS coverage is unreliable. Together they shorten the path to an operational waiver over towns, ports or air bases.
Picture a convoy escort moving at 30 to 40 knots on mixed roads. A small fixed-wing UAS would have to fly racetracks and constantly correct for geometry. The helicopter simply sits above the lead vehicles, 200 to 300 meters up, and watches for choke points or ambush signatures. For a border unit, four hours endurance with a three-kilo sensor means one aircraft can cover a dawn shift without frequent refuel, yet still land with reserves. On a coast, the float kit and corrosion-minded build let it fly box patterns at a harbor entrance, hand off video to a patrol boat, then recover on a small pad tucked behind containers. The 24 V payload bus also opens mixed missions. A gimbal plus a compact mesh radio turns the aircraft into a pop-up relay for teams working in dead ground. If something goes wrong, there is an emergency mode and a glide path that looks like a plan rather than a wish.
The broader context around Europe makes the HEO2’s proposition easier to understand. Armed forces and internal security agencies are buying persistence, not just airframes. The fighting in Ukraine has normalised drones at every echelon and put electronic warfare at the center of the conversation. Border agencies from the Baltics to the Balkans are asked to watch more ground with fewer crews, often in rough weather and with limited infrastructure. Maritime security has become a routine grind of pipeline monitoring, ship approaches and port perimeters that manned helicopters cannot cover affordably. In that climate, a small VTOL that stays airborne for hours, tolerates rain, lands almost anywhere and keeps working when GPS gets noisy is going to land on shortlists. The HEO2 looks like a product of that environment. It avoids gimmicks, leans into reliability, and offers enough power and data to carry the sensors operators actually want rather than demo payloads. If fielded systems deliver as shown on the stand, units would get a compact helicopter UAV with genuine endurance, a straightforward integration path, and a safety case that satisfies commanders and regulators.
