Commercial
China-based DJI is accused of using Autel’s patented features for following a flight path while avoiding obstacles, rotor assembly, and a way to switch out battery packs to minimize lag time between flights. Autel wants the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban imports of models of DJI’
Business
Schiebel has founded Schiebel Pacific Pty Ltd (SPL) to provide the Pacific region with a permanent and comprehensive programme, logistics and sales hub. The Schiebel Group, with already established Defence contracts in the region, sees considerable further potential in Australia and in the region at large, and as such is
Business
Boeing will build the U.S. Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft, the MQ-25 aerial refueller, through an $805 million contract awarded on August 30th. Boeing was awarded the engineering and manufacturing development contract to provide four aircraft. Boeing plans to perform the MQ-25 work in
Business
Officials from the Russian defense firm Kronshtadt Group announced the possible sale of the company’s Orion UAV to a country in the Middle East. But which Middle Eastern country is purchasing the platform, and what capabilities does the system bring to bear? The Orion-E (export version) is Russia’
UAM/UTM
The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR Alliance) and Griffiss International Airport announced a new partnership with Unifly, a European company with a unique software application that enables unmanned traffic management (UTM) systems to visualize and manage drone traffic in the airspace. The partnership will provide enhanced unmanned traffic
Military
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $123,000,000 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the France 3rd/4th Systems MQ-9 Block 5 procurement program. Work will be performed in Poway, California, and is expected to be completed May 1, 2020.
Business
Israel’s Aeronautics, which makes military unmanned aerial vehicles, has rejected a 430 million shekel ($117 million) acquisition offer from state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and businessman Avihai Stolero. “The company’s board has decided to reject the proposal, among other reasons, because of the amount that was offered,
Business
General Atomics Aeronautical System Inc., was awarded an $11,096,457 modification (P00120) to contract W58RGZ-13-C-0110 for sub-engineering service memorandums in support of the Gray Eagle aircraft system. Work will be performed in Poway, California, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2017
Military
Insitu Inc., Bingen, Washington, is awarded a $53,965,378 firm-fixed-price contract to procure four full-rate production, Lot II RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aircraft systems and eight attrition air vehicles; seven for the Marine Corps and one for the government of Poland. Additionally, this contract award includes
Military
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, San Diego, California, is being awarded a competitive cost-plus-award fee contract with a total value of $133,969,081. Under this new contract, the contractor will complete the development, integration, and flight test of an advanced sensor into an MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle
Business
Under the pioneering Lagos Enterprise Geographic Information Systems, e-GIS, upgrade and Integrated Land Administration and Automation System Project, “Lagos eGIS Project”, Asseco Software Nigeria has sealed a deal with the Lagos State Government to procure Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, “UAVs”, to capture and update orthophotogrammetric data. The deal was sealed
Business
Xwing, an autonomous aviation company, has announced the closing of a $4M seed round. Led by Eniac Ventures with participation from Array Ventures and prominent angels and aviation buffs, including John and Patrick Collison, founders of Stripe, as well as Nat Friedman of Xamarin, Microsoft and GitHub. The round allows