Metro Skyways to launch design and five-year development of the CityHawk, a four-passenger, vertical takeoff and landing flying vehicle • CityHawk is based on the Cormorant, a military craft for ferrying wounded soldiers from the urban battlefield.

Metro Skyways, a subsidiary company of Israeli company Urban Aeronautics based in Yavne, intends to launch the design and development of a four-passenger, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flying car.

The company said development of the CityHawk will take five years. The electric car will be based on Urban Aeronautics’ internal rotor, “Fancraft” technology.

CityHawk will at first be powered by jet fuel. However, it will be possible to convert it to run on liquid hydrogen fuel and also 700-bar compressed hydrogen. This depends on waiting for the infrastructure and technology to mature. The vehicle may even employ a system in which hydrogen is fed directly into a specially designed turboshaft engine, eliminating the need for fuel cells or electric motors.

The CityHawk is based on the Cormorant, a military craft developed by Tactical Robotics to ferry wounded soldiers from the urban battlefield. In the case of any airborne malfunction, all CityHawks will be equipped with a standard rocket-deployed parachute to bring them down safely.

The Cormorant has thus far performed over 200 test flights.

It has a capacity to transport two patients; its length is 6.2 meters (20 feet), its width is 2.15 meters (7.05 feet) without thrusters, and its height is 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) without thrusters.

CityHawk’s first public demonstration will take place at an air show shortly after completion of development.