Drone Aviation to Provide Imaging, Surveillance Aerial System for Defense

The Drone Aviation WASP system.

Drone Aviation Holding Corp., a developer of specialized lighter-than-air aerostats and tethered drones, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Drone Aviation Corp. (DAC), has received an order from specialized defense contractor Troll Systems for a set of Winch Aerostat Small Platform (WASP) aerostat systems.

Drone Aviation is exhibiting at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems 2015 show, being held May 4-7 in Atlanta (booth #550).

Under terms of the award, DAC and Troll will jointly form a working group to integrate the L-3 Wescam MX-10 advanced optical sensor system into the WASP platform for an international customer. The working group plans on commencing integration in May with initial flight testing expected to take place by Q3 2015.

Drone Aviation also announced that CNN is working with the company to explore how their tethered drone technology might be used in newsgathering operations in urban areas, as part of its FAA partnership, also announced at the AUVSI show. CNN selected Drone Aviation to leverage its WATT-200 tethered drones to gather footage from never-seen-before angles and heights. WATT-200 was unveiled at the AUVSI this week.

DAC develops and manufactures the WATT Electric Tethered Drone, Blimp in a Box (BiB) and WASP aerostat product lines. The WATT Tethered Drone, as well as the BiB and WASP aerostats, utilize a secure, high strength tether line that remains connected to the ground for safe and reliable operations.

DAC’s systems are intended to provide semi-persistent, mobile intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (“ISR”) and extended communications for various applications. Each system can provide low cost, mobile ISR and mobile communications for days, weeks or months. BiB and WASP aerostats are currently in use in a number of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) applications as well as at State and Local Police and Departments of Transportation where they provide silent, cost effective day and night monitoring and mobile communications.

Drone Aviation is exhibiting this week at AUVSI Unmanned Systems 2015 in Atlanta.

DoD-owned WASP systems are currently participating in sponsored exercises and are part of future capability studies as part of the DoD’s evaluation of the WASP as a highly mobile, tactical aerostat for ISR and communications. The DoD-owned WASP systems have successfully completed operations in a series of the United States Army Network Integration Experiments (NIEs) and have been recognized by the Army as a tactical battlefield solution that can support soldiers on the ground.

“Drone Aviation is pleased to partner with Troll Systems to expand the capabilities of our WASP platform and to help them meet the stringent requirements of their overseas customers,” said Felicia Hess, CEO of Drone Aviation Holding Corp. “With the addition of the L-3 Wescam MX-10 optical package, we are greatly expanding the operational capabilities of the WASP tethered aerostat system, further demonstrating the platform’s ability to flexibly deliver simple, secure and cost effective tactical surveillance and communications to customers.”