Matternet M2 Drone Granted FAA Production Certificate

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Today, leading drone delivery system developer Matternet announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted it a Production Certificate for its Matternet M2 drone.

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This comes after the news of the M2 aircraft’s achievement of FAA standard Type Certification earlier this year, the first of its kind for an unmanned aircraft.

The Production Certificate recognizes Matternet as possessing a quality management and manufacturing capability to create aircraft meeting the approved Type Design. The Certificate will allow for the manufacturing, testing and issuing of airworthiness certificates for M2 drones. Manufactured at the company’s Mountain View, California facility, the first Matternet M2 drones produced under the Certificate are expected to enter service starting December 2022.

“Receiving an FAA Production Certificate is yet another milestone establishing Matternet as the first – and currently only – company able to produce certified delivery drone systems in the United States,” said Matternet founder and CEO Andreas Raptopoulos. “The aircraft produced under this Certificate will be the very ones that lead a transformation of how we deliver time-sensitive materials, especially in critical industries like health care.”

Matternet is currently prioritizing the expansion of its operation in the U.S., with a focus on the health sector. The Matternet drone delivery system allows for the rapid, on-demand and routine delivery of biological lab samples to offsite testing facilities, providing health care professionals and patients with faster access to results while also creating more efficient processing of laboratory tests.

As part of a select group of companies, Matternet has worked over the course of the last four years to offer aircraft and support technology for on-demand air carrier operations under an exemption granted under the FAA’s Part 135 framework for revenue on-demand air carrier operations. These efforts have enabled carriers to operate drone networks during the evaluation of these systems. Currently in possession of both a Type Certification and Production Certificate, Matternet is the first U.S. company with an approved and in-production aircraft to be acknowledged as airworthy and eligible for commercial delivery operations.

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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.