Tue, Jul 03, 2018
Result Of A Newly-Announced Joint Venture With Platform Aerospace And An Unnamed Partner
Platform Aerospace, which provides rapid aircraft and drone prototyping, modification, and systems integration, has established a joint venture with an unnamed partner to acquire substantially all the assets of Vanilla Aircraft, which designed and built the VA001 ultra-endurance UAS (pictured).
The joint venture, named Vanilla Unmanned, will leverage Platform Aerospace’s prototyping and integration experience and the partner’s experience with aerospace and defense electronics to further develop the record-setting VA001, “creating a disruptive persistent aerial solution for both military and commercial applications,” the new company says.
The VA001 is a Group 3 UAS intended to be payload and mission agnostic, or “vanilla.” It’s capable for flying continuously for up to 10 days, providing persistent surveillance and reconnaissance. It was also the first winner of the AUVSI “Startup Showdown” in New Orleans in 2016, beating out 14 other competitors to take the top prize.
"Vanilla Unmanned is excited to continue innovating our UAS to support current and emerging operational requirements. The combined capabilities of Platform and partner will accelerate integration of best-in-class sensors and payloads and significantly reduce the cost and risk of transition to full-rate production,” says Rear Adm. Timothy Heely (USN-ret), president of Vanilla Unmanned and former AUVSI board member.
David Miller, vice president of the new Vanilla Unmanned, says, “We understand the disruptive potential of this UAS. With land-based and offshore marine traffic growing and manned assets being tasked at ever increasing levels, Vanilla Unmanned will bring a cost effective, persistent capability to our nation's defense at exactly the right time.”
(Source: AUVSI. Image from file)
More News
Aero Linx: JAARS Nearly 1.5 billion people, using more than 5,500 languages, do not have a full Bible in their first language. Many of these people live in the most remote parts of>[...]
'Airplane Bounced Twice On The Grass Runway, Resulting In The Nose Wheel Separating From The Airplane...' Analysis: The pilot reported, “upon touchdown, the plane jumped back>[...]
"Burt is best known to the public for his historic designs of SpaceShipOne, Voyager, and GlobalFlyer, but for EAA members and aviation aficionados, his unique concepts began more t>[...]
"Polaris Dawn, the first of the program’s three human spaceflight missions, is targeted to launch to orbit no earlier than summer 2024. During the five-day mission, the crew >[...]
There Are SO Many Ways To Get YOUR Aero-News! It’s been a while since we have reminded everyone about all the ways we offer your daily dose of aviation news on-the-go...so he>[...]