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 announced a flight test breakthrough, successfully validating its "transonic, laminar-flow technology" with a laser-powered drone demonstrator.
This validated aerodynamic efficiency is key to the company's nine-passenger Phantom 3500 business jet, promising significant reductions in drag (35%) and fuel burn (nearly 60%), aiming for high efficiency and carbon neutrality.
The data gathered will inform the development of the Phantom 3500, which targets a 2030 entry into service, and future uncrewed aerial vehicle concepts, building on prior DARPA-funded research.

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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.”