Italian rocket builder Avio has completed integration of its FD1 flight demonstrator, marking a major milestone in preparations for the vehicle’s launch from an Italian Ministry of Defence test range in Sardinia.
Avio announced the milestone on 10 September as part of its first-half 2026 financial results. The company said its liquid oxygen and methane (methalox) demonstrator had been “fully integrated” and that it expected to complete ground testing by the end of the year. The company did not, however, provide any details about when it expects to conduct the flight.
The 6.3-tonne single-stage demonstrator will be launched from the Salto di Quirra test range on the island of Sardinia. According to documents the company filed with Sardinia’s regional environmental authority in March, the demonstrator will lift off from a temporary launchpad being built on the facility’s grounds.
Powered by a single MR10 methalox rocket engine, the vehicle is expected to reach an altitude of approximately 40 kilometres, after which it will coast to a maximum altitude of around 70 kilometres.
During its descent, Avio plans to test the engine’s capacity to restart in flight with a short 8.5-second burn. The company has identified this in-flight reignition as one of the mission’s key objectives. The FD1 demonstrator will then continue its descent unpowered before splashing down roughly 20 kilometres from the launch site. Avio intends to recover the demonstrator following the conclusion of the test.
The FD1 demonstrator is being developed under a €181.6 million contract funded through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The programme is intended to validate key technologies for a future post-Vega E launch vehicle. It will also validate the MR10 engine’s performance in flight. While it is part of the company’s future plans, the engine is expected to initially power the Vega E upper stage. Vega E is designed to retain Vega C’s planned P160C first-stage upgrade and current Zefiro 40 second stage, while replacing its solid-fuel third stage and liquid-fuel upper stage with a single MR10-powered upper stage.
