In the UK, a company called GFS (which stands for — I kid you not — Geoff’s Flying Saucer), has been flying a small UAV, and expects it to be able to fly autonomously by years end.

The technology is pretty neat, it uses the Coandă effect, the tendency of a fluid to follow a surface, to generate lift.

The UAV is small, Max TOW is 18.5 kilos, but it does show one advantage over a conventional lift propeller, greater volumetric efficiency, because there is no big honking hole down the center of mass for the air.

Additionally, by tailoring the vanes on the body, you can eliminate torque issues, meaning that you have a single prop, rather than two counter rotating, which is smaller and lighter.

Additionally, they are looking at other applications, starting with a small manned vehicle: