Defense

Utah-based Fortem Technologies, which launched in 2016 and now counts Boeing’s HorizonX among its investors, last week demonstrated its counter drone technology for legislators at the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City. The company’s countermeasure combines its SkyDome platform – which provides situational awareness – with the DroneHunter, …

Azur Drones has just announced that they have received the first authorization for Autonomous flight in France.  Started in 2012, Azur makes automated surveillance drones for a variety of applications – and with automation one of the top new technologies in the drone industry, the company is poised to make …

Pegasus Aerospace this week announced the launch of its new tactical drone system catering to government agencies, law enforcement and the private-security sector. ShockWave Tactical UAS is designed – according to a company statement – “to enable clients to safely and accurately achieve their missions without risking and endangering first …

In a separate announcement,  FLIR announced a 39.6 million dollar order to deliver FLIR Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Systems (PRS) for the U.S. Army.  This tiny drone will support platoon and small unit level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities as part of the initiative named the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) Program. …

Management at Oregon-based drone company FLIR Systems better brush up on their French. The company just landed an $89 million contract from the French Defense Procurement Agency in support of the French Operational Pocket Drone (DrOP) program. The contract will deploy the company’s FLIR Black Hornet 3 nano-unmanned drone to …

Guest post by leading drone industry analyst Colin Snow of Skylogic Research. This was a big year for the commercial drone industry as a whole. It saw a significant increase in the business adoption, the expansion of the FAA’s LAANC program (the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability that provides …

Australian start-up Aquabotix this week signed an agreement with French defense multi-national Thales to research and design mine countermeasures using aquatic drone technology. This project is a collaboration with Australian Academia in conjunction with the University of Sydney, Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR), Flinders University, Western Sydney University, Mission Systems …

Image: University of Zurich Compact and foldable, portable drones are great for carrying – but can the advantages of a folding drone be realized during flight? Researchers at the University of Zurich, with others, have come up with a drone that folds during flight to get through tight spaces. Davide …

Michael Huerta ParaZero, the Tel-Aviv based drone recovery systems company announced today that former US FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has joined their advisory board. Mr. Huerta was nominated by US President Barack Obama and finished out his five year term under President Donald Trump.  He finished his out his 5 …

Massachusetts-based company InstantEye Robotics this week snagged a new contract with the American Defense Logistics Agency’s PMA-263 drone program – an initiative of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The program will deploy 32 InstantEye’s Mk-3 GEN5-D1 SUAS systems. The partnership will support the Marine Corps’ need for field-user evaluation. …