ANTHONY VENETZCEO, Venetz Aerospace
In this exclusive interview with Kartikeya, Editor, Drones World Magazine, Anthony Venetz discusses how Venetz Aerospace is pioneering certified electric propulsion systems, advancing UK sovereign drone capabilities, and laying the foundation for the next generation of safe, scalable autonomous aviation.
Venetz Aerospace has become the first UK company to receive CAA Design Organisation Approval for both electric motors and propellers. How significant is this achievement for the UK drone industry, and what does it mean for the future of certified UAS operations?
It is a defining moment, both for Venetz Aerospace and for the wider drone industry. Part 21 Design Organisation Approval is the same regulatory recognition that underpins manned aviation: it confirms that the CAA is satisfied our organisation, our processes and our engineering capability can design electric motors, ESCs (both hardware and software) and propellers that meet UK Part 21 airworthiness regulations.
We believe that a key aspect to unlocking safe, scalable, commercially viable UAS operations is being able to operate any size UAS, over any ground area, with any payload type and that is only possible with UAS which meet certified airworthiness standards.
The DOA is the foundation for developing a Type Certified propulsion system (we currently have 2 type certificate applications in progress with the UK CAA). For UAS OEMs who are aiming to bring a Type Certified UAS to the market, it means that the burden of certifying the propulsion system does not rest on their shoulders, they can focus on the other elements of their platform certification. It can be convenient to think of it in the traditional aviation context: when Boeing want to develop and certify a new airliner like the 787, they don’t design and produce their own motors, they go to GE Aerospace or Rolls Royce and integrate motors that have already been type certified.
Currently there are no type certified electric propulsion systems which are suited to the needs of the UAS industry, anywhere. We are going to change that.
As drone regulations evolve towards higher SAIL and Certified Category operations, propulsion systems are becoming increasingly critical. How is Venetz Aerospace helping manufacturers meet the demanding airworthiness requirements of next-generation drones?
We are already seeing UAS OEMs applying for SAIL 4 Design Verification with EASA (with 10 applications in process as of July 2026). Even before we bring a type certified propulsion system to the market, we are able to support UAS OEMs by providing the necessary design assurance for the propulsion system’s hardware and software, as well as detailed engineering support and aviation grade quality assurance. This simplifies and potentially shortens their Design Verification journey.
For UAS OEMs looking to develop SAIL 5 & 6 capable UAS, the Part 21 type certified propulsion system will assist OEMs in a similar way albeit to a higher level.
Your integrated propulsion solution combines electric motors, ESCs, and propellers into a certification-ready package. What advantages does this integrated approach offer to UAS manufacturers developing advanced commercial and defence platforms?
Integration is where much of the performance and much of the risk lives. A motor, an ESC and a propeller may each look adequate on paper, but the failure modes, efficiency losses and reliability issues emerge at the interfaces between them. By designing all three elements together, we can precisely match the propeller to the motor and ESC, optimise the complete system for a specific flight configuration, and characterise its behaviour as one unit rather than three separate components.
For manufacturers, the advantages are threefold. First, performance: a matched system delivers more thrust per watt, longer endurance and greater payload capability than assembled-from-catalogue alternatives. Second, certification: one integrated, certification-ready package with a single coherent evidence set is far simpler to fold into an aircraft-level safety case than three separately sourced components. Third, accountability: there is one design organisation responsible for the whole propulsion chain. For advanced commercial and defence programmes, where schedules and safety cases are unforgiving, that combination materially reduces both technical and programme risk.
Reliable propulsion is essential for BVLOS, heavy-lift, and safety-critical drone missions. What engineering innovations has Venetz Aerospace introduced to improve performance, efficiency, and operational reliability?
It’s all about safety, reliability and performance. When we think about piloting a traditional crewed aircraft, it would be inconceivable that the pilot would not have instrumentation to show how the aircraft’s motor/s are performing, or that critical system components would not have any redundancy capability. These are just a couple of examples of the concepts we are bringing from crewed aviation into the uncrewed industry.
“Certified propulsion will become the trusted foundation of autonomous aviation—enabling drones to perform increasingly complex commercial and defence missions with confidence.”
Building a sovereign UK supply chain has become a strategic priority for both civil and defence sectors. How important is domestic manufacturing in strengthening resilience, certification, and long-term competitiveness within the drone industry?
It is fundamental, and it is central to how we have built Venetz Aerospace. Our propulsion systems are UK-designed and UK-built, supported by an allied supply chain, and that delivers three distinct benefits. On resilience, recent years have shown how fragile extended international supply chains can be; for defence users in particular, dependence on components of uncertain provenance is increasingly unacceptable, and a sovereign supply base removes that vulnerability.
On certification, airworthiness is as much about traceability and control as it is about design. When you design and manufacture domestically, you have full oversight of configuration, quality and change control down through the supply chain — which is precisely what Part 21 demands. And on competitiveness, a sovereign capability in certified electric propulsion is a strategic asset for the UK: it anchors high-value engineering skills here, it gives British platform manufacturers a trusted domestic partner, and it positions the UK to lead as global markets move decisively towards certified UAS operations.
Demand for larger drones capable of carrying heavier payloads is growing rapidly across logistics, infrastructure inspection, emergency response, and defence. How do you see certified electric propulsion accelerating the adoption of these advanced UAS applications?
Certified propulsion is the enabler that turns these applications from trials into services. Larger, heavier aircraft flying meaningful payloads over longer distances inherently operate at higher risk levels — over people, near infrastructure, beyond visual line of sight — and regulators will only authorise those operations routinely when the airworthiness of the aircraft, and its propulsion, can be demonstrated to appropriate airworthiness certification requirements.
Once that evidence exists, the economics change completely. Operators can move from constrained, case-by-case approvals to scalable, repeatable operations; insurers can price the risk; and customers in logistics, inspection, emergency response and defence can build these capabilities into their core operations rather than treating them as experiments. Electric propulsion adds its own advantages — low noise, low maintenance, high reliability and zero operational emissions — which matter enormously for operations in and around communities. Certified electric propulsion brings those two things together, and we believe it is the single biggest accelerant for the large-UAS market over the coming years.
Looking ahead, what are the next major milestones for Venetz Aerospace, and how do you envision certified propulsion systems shaping the future of autonomous aviation over the next decade?
Our focus is clear: building on our Design Organisation Approval to take our first electric motors, ESCs and propellers through full Part 21 Type Certification with the UK CAA. However, type certification is a complex and multi-year process. Whilst that is underway, we are already bringing much needed products to the market:
– for the dual use market, we are providing high reliability, sovereign supply chain propulsion systems
– for UAS OEMs working toward SAIL 4 ‘design verified’ UAS, we are able to support their goals by providing propulsion systems that have the necessary design assurance and meet AS9100 quality standards.
Over the next decade, I believe certified propulsion will do for autonomous aviation what certified engines did for commercial aviation a century ago: provide the trusted foundation on which everything else is built. As drones take on genuinely safety-critical roles — routine cargo logistics, national infrastructure inspection, emergency medical delivery, defence missions — certified propulsion will be the baseline expectation, not a differentiator. The companies and countries that establish that capability early will shape the industry. Our ambition is for Venetz Aerospace, and the UK, to be at the forefront of that transformation.
“By combining certification-ready electric motors, ESCs and propellers into an integrated propulsion system, we’re helping unlock the future of safe, scalable BVLOS and autonomous drone operations.”
