EHang Holdings Limited (EHang) has debuted the EH216-EK, a firefighting pilotless electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with high-payload airdrop deployment.

The EH216-EK is designed for aerial firefighting in:

• Early-stage forest and grassland fires
• Large industrial parks
• Warehousing and logistics facilities

EH216-EK features a multi-channel fire-extinguishing payload release system for high-payload, multi-point aerial fire suppression.

The first batch of EH216-EK aircraft has completed assembly at the company’s Smart Manufacturing Center, supporting EHang's ongoing product validation, application development and future business initiatives for the aircraft. The facility is also expected to contribute to the development of the local low-altitude industry ecosystem and related application scenarios.

EH216-EK leverages the safety design principles of the EH216 series, featuring:

• Pilotless operation
• Vertical takeoff and landing
• Backup systems
• Redundancy design
• Cluster management

Built on these features, EH216-EK is designed to reach fire scenes quickly and conduct aerial fire suppression during the critical early stages of a fire. It is intended to offer a flexible and efficient complement to conventional ground firefighting forces.

EH216-EK has features like:

• Maximum design takeoff weight of 620 kilograms
• Maximum design mission payload of 160 kilograms
• 12-channel independently electronically controlled release system

The eVTOL comes standard with twelve 10-kilogram fire-extinguishing canisters, or optionally eight 20-kilogram fire-extinguishing canisters. The canisters are compatible with different extinguishing agents, including water-based agents and ultra-fine dry powder.

Each canister is designed to cover an area of approximately 6 to 8 meters in diameter, allowing flexible configuration to match fire conditions and precision suppression through coordinated multi-channel release.

In addition, its redundant multirotor propulsion and advanced flight-control algorithms provide wind resistance and resist the intense thermal updrafts at fire scenes, designed to support steady hovering and precise payload release even in harsh environments.

In forest and large-site firefighting, early intervention is critical to containing fires before they spread. The initial stages of a fire are key to limiting its spread and reducing the complexity of subsequent response efforts, making timely response and effective suppression essential. EH216-EK is designed to provide aerial support during this critical early-response window, helping contain fires before they escalate.

EH216-EK is designed for remote forest fires, fires in elevated or otherwise hard-to-reach locations where conventional fire trucks equipped with aerial ladders or platforms may have limited access, and fires at large industrial sites and storage yards.

In these scenarios, it can work with EHang's proprietary command and dispatch platform and lightweight fire-monitoring drones to support coordinated air-ground operations. The drones can relay information on fire locations and spread patterns to the platform, which can automatically generate three-dimensional mission flight routes.

The EH216-EK can then fly autonomously to the designated area and precisely release its firefighting payload, which offers benefits like:

• Helping contain fires at an early stage
• Reducing the need for firefighters to enter hazardous areas
• Buying valuable time for ground response teams

At the “Smart Manufacturing in Wencheng, EHang Takes Flight into the Future” event held at the EHang Wencheng Smart Manufacturing Center, local government officials and EHang executives attended to witness the debut of EH216-EK, including”

• Zhao Wang, Chief Operating Officer of EHang
• Xiaona Lee, China General Manager of EHang
• Daoyi Lee, General Manager of the Fire and Emergency Business Unit

EH216-EK also completed an on-site firefighting demonstration flight, showcasing its rapid response, stable flight, and precision fire suppression capabilities, and demonstrating a new approach to containing fires at an early stage.