Message from Symposium – FAA is ‘Open for Business’

The FAA’s Earl Lawrence, X’s James Burgess and Amazon’s Gur Kimchi discuss drone package delivery

“The message of this whole conference is, the FAA is open for business,” said Derek Kan, undersecretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation, summing up the Federal Aviation Administration’s stance at the third annual FAA UAS Symposium, cosponsored by AUVSI. Continue reading

Cleaning Wind Turbine Blades by Drone

Hundreds of feet above a snow-covered field, a boxy black device covered in propellers hovers next to the enormous outstretched blade of a wind turbine. From a corner of the machine, a nozzle sprays a liquid across the surface of the blade in a rapid smooth zigzag motion like a rogue car wash in the sky. Continue reading

US Transfers New Scan Eagle to Philippine Air Force

U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim turned over a Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial System to ‎Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana during a transfer ceremony at Villamor Air Base, Pasay City on March 13. Continue reading

Boeing Shares in $15M Investment in Detect and Avoid BVLOS Radar Firm

Fortem Technologies, Inc., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based company developing advanced radar systems for unmanned and manned aircraft, announced that it has closed a $15 million Series A funding round led by DCVC (Data Collective) with key participation from Boeing and Mubadala Investment Company, as well as Manifest Growth, New Ground Ventures and founding investor, Signia Venture Partners. Continue reading