France’s XSun and H3 DYNAMICS Join Forces to Develop World’s First Solar Hydrogen Electric UAV

XSun and H3Dynamics will join forces to solar/hydrogen/electric highly innovative UAVs too push for a greener sky

Toulouse, France - June 16, 2025 H3 Dynamics, an aerospace hydrogen fuel cell systems developer and XSun, the global leader in solar-electric unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are announcing a strategic partnership to develop world’s first solar-hydrogen-electric UAS.

Both based in France, XSun and H3 Dynamics are starting their collaboration to develop a unique “tri-brid” solar, hydrogen and battery power system, using a smart power management solution that optimizes the aircraft’s available energy at all times. While the sun is available, ultra-thin wing-integrated solar PV cells contribute power to the overall power system, batteries provide peak power during takeoff, and a miniaturized hydrogen fuel cell system provides the main cruise power. As on-board micro-grid system, the unique power system will enable record endurance for heavier UAS (VTOL, STOL or HTOL) able to navigate at lower altitudes.

In 2020, XSun launched a first generation fixed wing drone with a unique dual solar wing design, weighing a total of 29kg with a payload capacity of 4kg. Named SolarXone, XSun’s solar electric UAV is capable of producing up to 400W from its solar wings, achieving a ultra-quiet electric flight endurance of up to 12 hours, covering distances of 600km.

Taras Wankewycz, CEO H3 Dynamics stated: “harnessing solar power on the aircraft can add new fuel efficiencies to a hybrid electric fuel cell system, leading to increased flight durations while saving space and weight. We are thrilled to work with XSun to boost its product innovation and performance upgrades.”

Benjamin DAVID, CEO XSun stated:” Hydrogen is the perfect complementary energy source of solar and batteries. Working on hybrid system is completely in line with our ICARE program (ANR), with the objective to take the best of all three world, depending on the platform, the mission phase, the payload, the weather, etc.. It offers performance, silence, 0 CO2 and ground autonomy. H3Dynamics is the perfect partner to offer to the market the most advanced end-to-end system (logistics, transport, security) from ground operations to the flying platform.

H3 Dynamics specialises in aerospace and defense platforms ranging from small UAS to large scale aircraft. It has evolved hydrogen-electric fuel cell systems for the past 15 years, both small-size air-cooled miniature systems and larger liquid cooled systems, achieving the best power to weight benchmarks and fuel efficiencies in the world. The company recently announced the start of a global manufacturing hub in Toulouse (France), at the heart of one of the world’s leading aerospace eco-systems.

As part of its next generation system line-up, XSun will be offering a full solution eco-system to XSun clients in Europe, US, Australia and the Gulf region. This includes a solar hydrogen UAS and a mobile hydrogen refueling system produced by H3 Dynamics, which can be deployed on-site at the point of operations. Named H2-Field, the on-site hydrogen production and refueling system for fuel cell UAS is currently being field tested by the US Army.