SAN DIEGO – 15 February 2023 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the world’s leading manufacturer of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), radars, electro-optic and related mission systems, is partnering with Divergent Technologies, Inc. (Divergent) to support its Additive Manufacturing applications development efforts and implement a full digital manufacturing process for GA-ASI’s products. Divergent has developed a data-driven approach to design, fabricate and assemble vehicle structures called the Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS). GA-ASI is working with Divergent to apply this capability to manufacturing its line of UAS.

“Throughout our 30 years of designing and developing advanced UAS, GA-ASI has been focused on implementing new capabilities into our manufacturing process,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “We’re working with Divergent to integrate their technology as part of our Additive Design and Manufacturing Center of Excellence strategy, with the goal of optimizing our design and manufacturing processes and providing next generation UAS at the lowest cost.”

In 2022, GA-ASI began a joint development program with Divergent, which led to a stronger strategic partnership on multiple platforms. GA-ASI’s Additive Manufacturing (AM), aircraft integrity, material and design engineering teams are working with Divergent to adapt, apply and qualify its automobile industry-qualified technology to GA-ASI’s aircraft production. Divergent has grown within the automobile sector as a Digital Manufacturing process innovator, producing some of the fastest cars on the market with several recent car OEM adoption announcements.

“Divergent has invented the first industrial digital manufacturing system. Leveraging innovations in artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and automation, DAPS can be used to build the underlying structure for virtually any vehicle – whether land, sea, air, or space – better, faster and more cost efficiently than traditional manufacturing,” said Kevin Czinger, Founder, Lead Inventor & CEO of Divergent.

GA-ASI and Divergent have already completed two projects leading to a fully integrated small (< 500 lbs.) UAS aerostructure, leveraging model-based, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven, and topology optimized designs. The integrated metal structure was 3D printed, which led to the reduction of the part count integration by over 95% while meeting weight targets.

The DAPS process inspected each printed components by creating a full digital twin of the small UAS (SUAS) that was then applied to a fully automated, tool-less robotic assembly process that took less than 20 minutes to complete. This process enabled the team to go from a print-ready SUAS design to a fully assembled deliverable airframe in less than two days. GA-ASI anticipates this capability will enable near-theater ramp capacity in the future to support the warfighter.

This innovative approach to design and manufacturing leads to highly integrated weight and performance-optimized designs that are naturally, but not exclusively, leveraging AM technologies at a substantially lower airframe recurring cost, while providing a rapid tool-less iterative design approach for multiple platform variants.

DroneShield, a global industry leader in C-UAS (Counter-UAS or Counterdrone) and Pierce Aerospace have announced a partnership to integrate Pierce Aerospace’s Flight Portal ID, Remote ID technologies into DroneShield’s C-UAS and Command and Control systems, including DroneSentry-C2.

DroneShield, with offices in the United States and Australia, and presence in over 100 countries globally, is a leader in C-UAS technology with a recent recommendation from the U.S. DOD’s Joint C-sUAS Office (JCO) and numerous systems deployed worldwide. DroneShield customers range from the United States Air Force to Australian Defence Force and multiple European military agencies. The two companies announced a partnership to integrate Pierce Aerospace’s Flight Portal ID, Remote ID technology suite, into DroneShield’s products to provide enhanced situational awareness to DroneShield end users. This integration gives end users advanced UAS identification capabilities that were previously not available. These joint capabilities will be available to customers in 2023.

“We’ve worked with DroneShield for a few years at private and DOD-sponsored C-UAS integration events,” said Aaron Pierce, CEO of Pierce Aerospace. “DroneShield has been a consistent advocate for our capabilities, and their technologies offer a great platform for integration. Their C-UAS systems are proven, and I’m excited to see end users work with an integrated solutions package that pairs radio frequency based detect and defeat, innovative command and control, and our Remote ID and Combat ID capabilities.”

DroneShield DroneSentry-C2 Command-and-Control system

Past DroneShield and Pierce Aerospace work has combined Remote ID and RF defeat technologies in dismounted, on-the-move, and fixed-site C-UAS experiments. The inclusion of Flight Portal ID’s Remote ID data feeds into DroneShield’s DroneSentry-C2 system enables end users to correlate and positively identify UAS, enhancing security operations by providing a holistic air picture with target discrimination.

“The integration of Flight Portal ID and DroneSentry-C2 provides users with the comprehensive picture needed to deconflict their airspace, maintain safe flight operations for both crewed and uncrewed aircrafts, while also having the real-time intelligence and means necessary to protect that airspace,” stated Matt McCrann, CEO of DroneShield LLC. “It’s a game changer – not only for security and Counter-UAS adoption, but the joint capability also addresses key requirements for effective Unmanned Traffic Management and serves as an enabler of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) initiatives.”

The combined technology has a wide range of end user applications, as Unmanned Traffic Management and C-UAS solutions continue to merge for a number of user segments, across civilian Government, military and private use cases.

Flight Portal ID, Pierce Aerospace’s UAS Remote ID technology suite, consists of Remote ID receivers, broadcast modules, software, integration capabilities, and remote administration services. Flight Portal ID offers market-leading Remote ID solutions and has an integration service record with nearly a dozen commercial unmanned traffic management (UTM), detect and avoid (DAA), and DoD command and control (C2) and C-UAS systems. Commercial and government solutions are available for integration with C-UAS, UAS OEMs, and UTM providers.

SAN DIEGO – 31 January 2023 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) flew a new survivable Air-Launched Effect (ALE) for the first time as part of a flight demonstration based out of the Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah, on Dec. 8, 2022. The ALE, known as Eaglet, was launched from a U.S. Army MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The Eaglet flight was jointly funded by GA-ASI and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC).

“The first flight of the Eaglet was an important milestone for the GA-ASI/U.S. Army team,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “Eaglet is intended to be a low-cost, survivable UAS with the versatility to be launched from a Gray Eagle, rotary-wing aircraft, or ground vehicles. It enables extended reach of sensors and increased lethality while providing survivability for manned aircraft.”

Eaglet fits into the ‘ALE Large’ category, which encompasses larger, more powerful sensors or payloads. Because of its design, Eaglet is capable of carrying a diverse range of payloads in support of multiple Army missions.

Eaglet design extends battlefield options for commanders while reducing their decision cycles. Gray Eagle can carry Eaglet for thousands of kilometers before launching it while being controlled through unmanned-unmanned teaming or as a component of advanced teaming command and control concepts.

Eaglet can work in concert with other long-range payloads carried by Gray Eagles, helicopters, or other platforms to support deep sensing in Multi-Domain Operations.

With this successful flight of the Eaglet, GA-ASI will work with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to feature it in other exercises to further determine its potential. The Eaglet is the newest entry into GA-ASI’s Evolution Series of advanced UAS concepts.

www.ga-asi.com