Otto Completes Laminar-Flow Testing for Low-Drag Bizjet

Company completes a flight campaign with a demonstrator drone that it says validates its core airframe technology.

Jack Daleo

Thursday, May 07, 2026 at 09:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Otto’s recent flight test campaign studied a drone with the same transonic, laminar-flow technology on its Phantom 3500 business jet. [Credit: Otto Aerospace]

Key Takeaways:

Otto Aerospace successfully validated its transonic, laminar-flow aerodynamic technology through flight tests with an uncrewed drone, confirming its efficiency in reducing drag.
This technology is crucial for the company's Phantom 3500 business jet, which is designed to reduce aerodynamic drag by 35 percent and fuel burn by nearly 60 percent.
The nine-passenger, windowless Phantom 3500 aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and enter service by the same year, promising significantly lower operating costs.

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Otto Aerospace—the developer of a nine-passenger, super-midsize business jet that is designed to reduce aerodynamic drag by 35 percent and fuel burn by nearly 60 percent—on Wednesday said it achieved a flight test breakthrough that could accelerate its efforts to field an aircraft by 2030.

The company said it completed a flight test campaign with a laser-powered, uncrewed drone demonstrator that incorporates transonic, laminar-flow technology—the same that features on its flagship Phantom 3500. Otto said the campaign “validated predicted aerodynamic efficiency” of the laminar-flow system during flight. It plans to use that data to develop the Phantom as well as “future energy-relay [uncrewed aerial vehicle] concepts.”