Drone Aviation Holding Corp., a manufacturer of tethered drones and lighter-than-air aerostats, has announced that it has delivered its multi-mission capable tactical Winch Aerostat Small Platform (“WASP”) to the Department of Defense (“DoD”) under a contract award valued in excess of $1.7 million.
This award is the third repeat order for the WASP by this customer and is the result of a growing number of successful international deployments with military personnel.
The contract, for a customized WASP Elevated Relay System (ERS), features simultaneous multi-mission capabilities for extended range communications up to 40km utilizing multi-frequency and multi-wave form radios operating in parallel with high performance ISR payloads designed for day/night Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
“This delivery further demonstrates our ability to rapidly translate challenging customer requirements from the whiteboard to the field in a reliable and repeatable solution,” said Dan Erdberg, President of Drone Aviation. “The WASP ERS successfully integrates industry-leading communications radios that can seamlessly connect to existing secure military networks deployed globally. This expands our potential market to include solutions that enable rapid, cost effective extension of existing communications infrastructure worldwide.”
“This latest contract is a major financial and business milestone for Drone Aviation, marking our largest single contract and advancing our efforts to grow our operations and convert high-value opportunities for the WASP into revenue. Furthermore, through a focused strategy of technical leadership and customer-driven product development, we are transforming our investments into unique solutions such as this WASP communications system. We remain committed to developing solutions with unique capabilities and unmatched operational economics, critical attributes which align directly with current military and homeland security priorities in 2019,” added Jay Nussbaum, Chairman and CEO of Drone Aviation Corp.
The WASP is a highly tactical and mobile aerostat system which can be operated by as few as two soldiers and can provide day/night video, secure multi-frequency and multi-wave form wireless communication range extension capability at the edge of the battlefield from either a stationary position or while being towed.
Over the past four years, U.S. Army-owned WASP systems have successfully completed thousands of hours of soldier training operations, various DoD exercises, and customer operations. WASP is currently being utilized by the DoD as a mobile, tactical aerial solution that can support multi-mission profiles involving ground and aerial-based assets through communication retransmission.
Operating at altitudes of up to 1,500 feet AGL, the WASP system can significantly extend ISR capabilities and secure communications in remote and austere locations. The soldier-operated systems can be rapidly configured to support a variety of mission requirements for days, weeks or months with customized payloads.
Source: Press Release