Event 38 Launches E400 Fixed-Wing Drone

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M Crosby

Mapping drone manufacturer Event 38 Unmanned Systems announced today the release of its E400, a new fixed-wing mapping drone designed and manufactured entirely in the United States.

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The E400 boasts an impressive flight time of ninety minutes, allowing it to cover a greater range and gather more data during a single flight. The drone possesses a payload capacity of three pounds, and is significantly more stable at altitude and in windy conditions than a multirotor drone.

The E400’s hot-swap payload bay allows for its payload to be changed in less than a minute without the need for specialty tools or skills. Customers are able to select from a range of specialty cameras and other advanced sensors, such as high-resolution aerial photogrammetry, thermal and multispectral imagery, LiDAR, and live video streaming. The E400’s payload bay has an open interface, allowing customers to integrate nearly any camera or sensor with Event 38’s open-source autopilot software.

The E400 also features vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) functionality, enabling it to take off or land anywhere at the touch of a button, without the need for specialty launch or recovery equipment.

“We’ve been making fixed-wing drones for over a decade, but the E400 is our first fixed-wing drone with VTOL capabilities. We’re extremely proud to offer this feature,” said Event 38 founder and CEO Jeff Taylor . “At Event 38, we’re always looking for ways to make our drones more useful and accessible.  Adding VTOL functionality improved the user friendliness of the E400 by leaps and bounds.”

In 2019, Event 38 started looking into VTOL functionality for fixed-wing drones during a partnership with the Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO), where Taylor and his team ran trials with the Air National Guard on a military-grade, carbon fiber, fixed-wing VTOL aircraft that would later become the E400.

“The E400 is the only drone of its kind that’s made on American soil,” said Taylor. “This drone is the culmination of everything we’ve learned over the past ten years and the advancements we made in partnership with the military, and we’re incredibly proud to bring the E400 to market.”

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Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.