Commercial
Christiansburg, Virginia, a town of roughly 22,000 people, is the site of the most advanced residential drone delivery trial in the United States, launched by the Alphabet subsidiary Wing in October 2019. Virginia Tech researchers conducted a survey in November 2020 to assess the community’s sentiment. Wing provided
Business
The Kroger Co. and Drone Express, a division of TELEGRID Technologies, Inc., have announced a pilot to offer grocery delivery via autonomous drones, expanding the retailer's seamless ecosystem and providing customers with anything, anytime, anywhere. $10 billionJody Kalmbach How the Drone Grocery Delivery Pilot Works The pilot will
Commercial
The race was on – safely – for more than 50,000 spectators Saturday at the 147th Kentucky Derby in part thanks to Pittsburgh-based technology company AERAS. The company, which is the first and only recipient of the Federal Aviation Administration's 137 certification specifically for sanitization purposes, used its
Business
FLIR Systems, Inc. announced it has won an additional $15.4 million contract to deliver its FLIR Black Hornet 3 Personal Reconnaissance Systems (PRS) to the U.S. Army. The advanced nano-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used to augment squad and small unit-level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities
Business
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that it was granted clearance from the German government and completed the previously announced acquisition of Telerob Gesellschaft für Fernhantierungstechnik mbH (Telerob), in a $45.4 million (€37.5 million) cash transaction and the pay-off of approximately $9.4 million (€7.8 million) in Telerob’s
Commercial
Leading Japanese infrastructure companies will end their use of Chinese-made drones, joining in the government's efforts to curb the potential security risks. There have been concerns that drones made by Chinese companies transmit sensitive data to their manufacturers, and the U.S. essentially blacklisted drone maker DJI
Business
Northrop Grumman Defense Services, Sierra Vista, Arizona, has been awarded a $58,546,016 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract for the Japan Global Hawk program. This contract provides for contractor logistics support services to include, but not limited to, in-country personnel, mission planning, contractor field teams,
Business
AeroVironment Inc., Simi Valley, California, was awarded a $21,779,908 cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency research project. Work will be performed in Simi Valley, California (74%); and Palo Alto, California (26%), with an expected completion date of October 2023. Fiscal 2020
Business
Astro Aerospace Ltd., a developer of eVTOL aerial vehicles and drones, and Horizon Aircraft Inc., a developer of advanced eVTOLs, have entered into an agreement under which Astro will acquire privately held Horizon for five million common shares of Astro stock, the material terms of which are disclosed in the
Propulsion
Jetoptera was recently awarded two 2021 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contracts from the USAF to further characterize the noise of its patented Fluidic Propulsive System (FPS) in an anechoic chamber wind tunnel and to prove that the FPS used with an Upper Surface Blown Wing (USB) configuration will produce
Commercial
Advanced air mobility (AAM) company Skyports has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the flag carrier airline of Kenya, Kenya Airways, to collaborate on launching permanent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations in the country. Joint efforts have already begun across drone delivery and inspection use cases. This collaboration brings
Data Links & Communications
Sagetech Avionics, an aerospace technology company providing industry-leading situational awareness solutions for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), and Pen Aviation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to integrate Sagetech Avionics' MXS transponders and Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems into the PEN 55V midsize drone and the PEN 1360V