AeroVironment has received two firm-fixed-price orders totaling $9,804,448 from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) for its Raven and Puma 3 AE tactical UAS and spares. The first order is expected to be delivered by Aug. 2020, and the second order by Oct. 2020.
The orders are part of a three-year base contract received from NSPA in Jan. 2020. The contract includes an option for two additional years of logistics support for Raven, Wasp and Puma tactical UAS.
The total potential value of the multi-year contract is $80 million, which includes the procurement and sustainment of AeroVironment’s tactical UAS employed by the defense forces of several NATO countries.
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Drone Delivery Canada launching UAS delivery service for Ontario's Beausoleil First Nation Community
With the assistance of Air Canada and the Pontiac Group, Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has entered into a commercial agreement with The David McAntony Gibson Foundation (operating as GlobalMedic) to use its drone delivery technology to provide service to the Beausoleil First Nation Community (BFN) in Ontario.
A variety of donors provided funding for the project, including the OEC Group (Canada), which is a global logistics provider that services clients in all major industries including aerospace, healthcare, global retail, automotive and manufacturing.
“DDC and OEC have been looking for an opportunity to partner. When the chance popped up to help the Beausoleil First Nation community, it was an easy decision to make,” says Landon Bibeau, CMO of the OEC Group.
QinetiQ Australia to design and construct UAS flight test range in Queensland, Australia
QinetiQ Australia has been awarded a contract to design and construct a UAS flight test range (FTR) at Cloncurry Aerodrome in North West Queensland on behalf of the Queensland Government.
The FTR will include access to a commercial quality runway, dedicated hangar and workshop, a range control center, and a range control system that includes a primary surveillance radar and other surveillance and tracking equipment. The FTR will also have dedicated airspace and regulatory approvals for UAS FTR operations.
Collins Aerospace, L3Harris Technologies, Thales USA to help enable BVLOS UAS ops in North Dakota
Collins Aerospace, L3Harris Technologies, and Thales USA have all been selected to provide systems engineering and integration services to build, implement, and operate North Dakota’s first-of-its-kind, aviation-grade, statewide network for flying UAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
The companies have been contracted to work with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site (NPUASTS) to enable real-world, scalable, commercial and public BVLOS UAS operations in North Dakota.
Autonodyne, Robotic Skies partner to provide support services for UAS
UAS and software design and certification expert Autonodyne LLC has partnered with Robotic Skies to develop field maintenance and other support services for Autonodyne’s mission-critical systems and technologies.
North Carolina A&T researchers to use drones to improve tropical forecasting and modeling
With a goal of improving tropical forecasting and modeling, a computational science and engineering faculty member and two Ph.D. students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (North Carolina A&T) will use drones to collect data from the eye of hurricanes.
In a project supported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Hyoshin Park, Ph.D., and Ph.D. candidates Larkin Folsom and Justice Darko will look for ways to maximize the collection of data and possible flight paths in future storms. Park visited JPL during the summer of 2019 and used drones to formulate the problem of efficient hurricane data collection, in collaboration with Masahiro Ono, Ph.D., a research technologist at the laboratory.
Weekend Roundup: May 29, 2020
This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
In an effort to help families in need, Optimus Ride will use its self-driving shuttles to deliver meals to a waterfront development in Washington, D.C. called the Yards. Optimus Ride’s fleet will distribute the meal kits to the families on a weekly basis, serving a total of 5,000 meals. (VentureBeat)
EHang granted approval to use EHang 216 passenger-grade AAV for air logistics purposes
EHang has obtained the world’s first commercial pilot operation approval to use passenger-grade autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) for the purpose of air logistics. The approval came from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), and is for the EHang 216 AAV.
Novant Health, Zipline delivering PPE and medical supplies to frontline medical teams in NC
Novant Health Inc., a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system headquartered in North Carolina, has partnered with Zipline to launch America’s first emergency drone logistics operation by a hospital for its pandemic response.
Novant Health, which operates 15 hospitals and nearly 700 locations in the southeastern United States, was granted a part 107 waiver from the FAA to begin operation under the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) UAS Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP). The operation will provide contactless distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) and critical medical supplies to Novant Health frontline medical teams in the Charlotte, North Carolina metro area.
