Sunrise to sunset on one tank

Before dawn one day in March 2021, three Skyfront staff watched an eight-rotor drone lift off from a farm field in Silicon Valley. Then, by the company’s own account, they cooked food, sent emails and watched the sun cross the sky while it flew circles on autopilot. It landed only when its fuel ran out, after 13 hours and 4 minutes, an hour longer than their simulation had predicted. Apart from a large auxiliary tank it was a stock Perimeter 8. Skyfront calls it the multirotor endurance record; it chose not to pay for Guinness verification and offers its onboard video and telemetry as proof.

Petrol inside a multicopter

Skyfront was founded in 2014 to fix the obvious weakness of battery drones: flights measured in minutes. Its answer was a fuel-injected hybrid power unit that turns petrol into electricity in flight. The production Perimeter 8 flies for five hours on its standard tanks, carries up to 10 kg for an hour or 5 kg for three, and works from minus 15 to plus 50 degrees Celsius. The aircraft is built in the United States and fully compliant with US defence sourcing rules.

From mine fields to the US Army

That endurance found buyers in surveying, magnetometry for mineral exploration and the detection of mines and unexploded ordnance; the company also sells its own MagniPhy magnetometer. The Perimeter 8 was the first aircraft to receive Green UAS certification for compliance with US defence sourcing rules, and later Blue UAS Select status. In 2026 the US Army awarded Skyfront a contract to field the drone with Army units, operate it from armoured vehicles as a surveillance platform and radio relay, and train soldiers and instructors.

المصانع

• Redwood City · Redwood City, California — Headquarters

الأرقام القياسية والأولويات

• Perimeter 8 flew 13 hours 4 minutes in March 2021, claimed by the company as the multirotor endurance record; not verified by Guinness
• Perimeter 8 described by the company as the first UAS to receive Green UAS NDAA certification