SNC Acquires Volansi Portfolio to Deliver UAV Solutions that Fly Anywhere, Anytime

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 10, 2022) – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) today announced it has acquired the portfolio of assets and intellectual property related to the Voly-50 and Voly-T series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) produced previously by Volansi. The move reaffirms SNC’s commitment to delivering a next-generation, multi-role, long-haul, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platform to customers across the DOD and establishing SNC as a leading solution provider in the UAV space.

“SNC is committed to delivering a future unmanned system with the payload, range and endurance that our military needs,” said Tim Owings executive vice president of SNC’s Mission Solutions and Technologies (MST) business area. “Adding the Volansi capabilities to the existing SNC portfolio was a perfect fit. Our complementary technologies will create a world where mission-tailored VTOL drones make it possible to support any industry, to deliver anything, anywhere, anytime.”

With the close of the deal, SNC also acquired Volansi’s production facility in Bend, Oregon and retained key personnel.

The Voly-50 and Voly-T series of infrastructure-independent aerial drones can take off and land vertically, leveraging the sky for unlimited possibilities and endless connections. Combining the Voly technology with SNC’s exceptional open architecture systems, sensor integrations, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities results in a rapidly deployable unmanned ISR VTOL solution for multi-domain operations.

Utilizing the Voly-50 series design as the foundation, SNC’s VTOL offering has a small operational footprint and can easily operate in difficult terrain and contested spaces for tactical resupply missions. It is built for endurance, with the ability to handle heavy payloads, while a turnkey ISR system gives users the ability to see, track and understand the battlespace more completely.

SNC also leverages the extensive expertise of its subsidiary, Kutta Technologies Inc., in its VTOL offering. Kutta – a respected leader in safety-critical unmanned systems software – contributes to the redundancy and durability required to complete even the toughest DOD missions by ensuring DO-178 compliance and adherence to interoperability standards.

“SNC wanted to keep the dream alive by bringing to fruition the ability to support both ISR and humanitarian aid missions, reaching locations that were once unreachable to deliver survival kits, blankets, food, and water,” said Josh Walsh, vice president of programs for SNC’s MST business area. “The Volansi systems are unique because they offer the military a new generation of flexible UAVs that provide long-haul aircraft with superior flight range, flexible payload capacity and the ability to fly beyond visual line of sight.”

For many years, SNC has invested heavily in internal research and development of emerging technologies, shifting its product development approach to smaller SWAP, open architecture systems and platform-agnostic solutions that allow for faster modification and integration based on customer mission needs. SNC has a proven, 60-year heritage of creating complex technology solutions, including more than 30 years of experience in developing, integrating and engineering unmanned systems to reduce warfighter casualties in combat ISR scenarios. As a leader in unmanned systems, SNC has made significant strides in emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and electronic warfare.

For more information, visit www.sncorp.com.

DroneShield is pleased to advise that it has launched a dedicated testing facility in regional New South Wales. The facility will significantly streamline the testing and release of advanced drone detection technologies in development by the Company.

Image: DroneSentry system at DroneShield test site facility in regional NSW

This is DroneShield’s first dedicated testing facility in both New South Wales and Australia.

Oleg Vornik, DroneShield’s CEO, commented “As we continue to grow our advanced drone detection and defeat technologies, there is an increasing need for a locally based test site, that meets our operational requirements as well as being compliant with Government regulations.”

“This permanent facility enables fully remote testing by our engineering team, with real time data shared with our engineering headquarters in Sydney. This enables faster development cycles of our AI-enabled radiofrequency, image recognition, and sensorfusion technologies, which are pushed out to our subscribed customers on a quarterly release cycle.”

“Importantly, Australia is a key customer market for DroneShield, and having a dedicated local facility is expected to further enhance our work with Australian customers, both from a sovereign capability perspective and a way to conduct customer demonstrations.”

• System determines precise location of the aircraft during flight without relying on GPS

• Will enable increasingly advanced navigational capabilities, features and functionality through future software and hardware updates

• Available as an add-on option for new Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE system orders and as a retrofit kit for fielded systems

Operators can deploy Puma AE small unmanned aircraft systems across GPS-contested environments with Puma VNS, which will automatically transition to and from GPS-denied navigation mode without any input from operator for seamless connectivity. (Image: AeroVironment, Inc.)

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 15, 2022 –AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today introduced Puma™ VNS, a visual-based navigation system for Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) that will enable GPS-denied navigation across increasingly GPS-contested environments.

The system will provide operators with continually advanced navigation capabilities, features and functionality through anticipated software and hardware updates. The system will also enable the integration of future autonomy capabilities.

“Puma VNS gives operators an unprecedented advantage in the battlefield,” said Trace Stevenson, AeroVironment vice president and product line general manager for SUAS. “Operators now can execute missions with more confidence in GPS-contested environment with the system’s new navigational capabilities.”

The next-generation navigation system features a suite of down-looking sensors that gather imagery data and track features on the ground, as well as an embedded compute module to process and determine the precise location of an aircraft while it is in flight. Designed with the operator in mind, the system automatically transitions to and from GPS-denied navigation mode without any input from the operator.

Puma VNS is available as an add-on option for new Puma 3 AE system orders and as a retrofit kit for fielded Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE systems. To learn more about Puma VNS, visit www.avinc.com/pumaae.