I don't care as much about the combat as about the efficiency.

That's a big wing airfoil, and it's cheap foam, and it's not as mechanically complex as a helicopter. There is potential here for low-speed heavy lift. I wish they'd included a scale-up of batteries from "Tiny" to "Too heavy to loft", with sustained in place hover times and watts per kilogram as the performance metric.

How about a cardboard plane

https://youtu.be/UI52ghUYKO4?si=LCY7mJhWDwH6MZy8&t=2044

That guy is 3 parts genius and two parts absolute madman. He's like Lilienthal and if he's not going to be more careful he'll end up the same way. 15 meters is all it took. When you fail with aircraft it is better if they don't work at all. He is now getting into an area where the accidents will get more severe until he becomes more careful or ends up in the hospital or worse.