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Deployment

Prime Air MK30 at Richmond, Texas, USA

The Amazon Prime Air MK30 is Amazon's current-generation autonomous last-mile delivery drone, recorded in the aerial form factor to fill the registry's delivery-drone coverage (it is the major US delivery drone with the most-documented safety record). Successor to the MK27-2, it is quieter with greater range and heat tolerance, carries onboard sense-and-avoid, and delivers small packages of up to about five pounds to customers' yards across markets including College Station, Texas, Tolleson, Arizona, Waco, Texas, Richardson, Texas, and parts of the UK and Italy.

Made by Amazon's Prime Air unit, it is recorded at pilot maturity rather than stable commercial because a pattern of FAA- and NTSB-investigated crashes has driven repeated US operational suspensions, including a January 2025 pause after dual Oregon test crashes and a Phoenix-area pause after an October 2025 double crane-strike. Its predecessor, the MK27, had its own 2021 crash near Pendleton, Oregon, in which a motor failure caused an uncontrolled fall and a lithium-battery fire that ignited acres of wheat stubble, recorded here as lineage rather than a separate entity.

Prime Air MK30 by Amazon · Operated by Amazon Prime Air · Unverified · Drones

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Machine-readable surfaces

Amazon's first drone delivery operations in the Greater Houston market, launched from its fulfillment center in Richmond, Texas in May 2026.

Safety record

No incidents on record for Prime Air MK30 at Richmond, Texas, USA.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Trust tier
Unverifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated
2026-07-27
Company
Amazon
Status
operational
First seen
2026-05-13
ID
9062d5d7-5d83-4554-b1c1-b33c8054b0b3

Timeline

  1. May 2026
    First recorded
    Prime Air MK30 first documented operating at Richmond, Texas, USA.
  2. Jul 2026
    Current status: operational
    Latest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.

On the deployment map

Prime Air MK30 operates in Richmond, Texas, USA. Explore the full verified map:

Sources (1)

  1. Why Amazon chose to launch Prime Air drone delivery in Richmond · https://www.khou.com/article/money/business/houston-business-journal/amazon-prime-air-drone-delivery-richmond-houston/285-3f790f0e-f014-47cf-824a-e63c036dfc07 · 2026-05-13
Methodology: Unreviewed · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-27

Verification posture

Unreviewed

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-27

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: pilot

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: aerial

Sources by quality tier

1
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Prime Air MK30 at Richmond, Texas, USA.

Common questions

What is the Prime Air MK30 deployment at Richmond, Texas, USA?
Prime Air MK30, built by Amazon, is recorded as a deployment at Richmond, Texas, USA on the DEPLOY registry. Amazon Prime Air operates the deployment.
Who operates Prime Air MK30 at Richmond, Texas, USA?
Amazon Prime Air operates this deployment as a customer of Amazon, the manufacturer of Prime Air MK30.
When did the Prime Air MK30 deployment at Richmond, Texas, USA go live?
The deployment is recorded as starting May 13, 2026 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.
Have there been incidents at the Prime Air MK30 deployment at Richmond, Texas, USA?
No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.

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