VTOL Technologies Ltd was founded in 2002 by MD Ashley Bryant as a high-technology research & development company, with as initial goal the development of a low-cost, flexible search and surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for military, homeland security, policing and environmental monitoring, from IP created and patented by Ashley Bryant. The UAV would be rugged, immediately deployable and could be launched from the ground, ship or even moving vehicles. The vectored-thrust UAV platform is suitable for any situation requiring safe aerial viewing or sensor measurement.

In the first years of operation, the company secured two Dti SMART award R&D grants, a SFLGS loan as well as an LDA-funded Jumpstart Connect programme in association with Kingston University, involving Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of air flow through directional ducting. VTOL went on to win a £200k LDA Development grant to fund a 2-year programme of work to take their technology from design specification stage to demonstrator model to attract investment funding to take the product into production. The project was supported by Professor John Allen of Kingston University who has an impressive background in the aviation field, having designed the Hawk and Supersonic Harrier jets whilst working for British Aerospace. His CV records that he has delivered 792 professional lectures, of which 55 were to the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Subsequent to this work, the company then secured a substantial 13-month Technology Demonstrator contract with a European Defence Prime. The contract was successfully completed and the project handed over to the Defence Prime for continued in-house development. (The IP for this VTOL UAV architecture is now owned by the Defence Prime who is continuing to exploit this technology internationally). Building upon this success, VTOL Technologies has continued its research into unique, optimal VTOL UAV architectures and is now developing its latest concept, a distinctive, vectored-thrust VTOL UAV flying-wing architecture with exciting performance characteristics.

VTOL Technologies Ltd is based at SEEDA's Reading Enterprise Hub and works closely with Farnborough's Enterprise Hub, which hosts the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium with which Kingston University has strong links.