Chinese engineers soon will have a world-record-holding product to offer to express delivery companies: the largest civilian drone.

Engineers at Beihang Unmanned Aircraft System Technology, a part of Beihang University in Beijing, are designing a drone that will be able to fly 1,500 kilometers carrying 1 metric ton of cargo.

They plan to finalize their design before year's end and construct a prototype in 2019 for test flights scheduled to start in 2020.