Impossible Aerospace, a company that is building long-range electric aircraft, has raised $9.4 million in a Series A funding round, bringing the total amount raised by the company thus far to more than $11 million. 

In addition to this funding, Impossible Aerospace has also unveiled its US-1 UAS, which is an electric commercial-grade drone with a flight time of up to two hours.

According to Impossible Aerospace, the US-1’s battery life outperforms the approximate single-charge flight time of other UAS available today—25 minutes—and “brings it to parity with gasoline-fueled systems,” the company says.

“The US-1 is more than just a drone. It's the first aircraft designed properly from the ground up to be electric, using existing battery cells without compromise,” explains Spencer Gore, CEO of Impossible Aerospace.

“It's not so much an aircraft as it is a flying battery, leveraging an energy source that doubles as its primary structure. This is how electric aircraft must be built if they are to compete with conventional designs and displace petroleum fuels in aviation.”

Impossible Aerospace says that the US-1 is designed with a “battery-first approach,” which is necessary for electric aircraft to be able to compete with conventionally fueled incumbents. The UAS was designed by a team of engineers that includes motor and battery experts from Tesla, SpaceX and other leading companies.
 
Impossible Aerospace has begun selling its first units—equipped with optical and thermal sensors—to firefighters, police departments, and search and rescue teams across the U.S.