Red Cat’s Teal 2 system takes flight. (Red Cat)
EUROSATORY 2024 — Drone technology firm Red Cat Holdings has launched a new family of small, low-cost drones aimed at meeting the needs for the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative, the company announced Monday.
Unveiled on the first day of the Eurosatory conference in Paris, San Juan-based Red Cat said the drone family has “complementary capabilities and a common ground control system.” The three uncrewed systems are intended to fulfill intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements, as well as strike missions, according to the company.
“Technology integrations and partnerships that connect and optimize this new family of systems will play a significant role in its success,” Red Cat Chief Technology Officer George Matus said in a company press release. “Open architecture and established relationships with some of the leading hardware and software companies in autonomy, AI, machine learning and computer vision will enable us to expand our capabilities over time.”
As part of the new offering, Red Cat lifted the lid on a new drone dubbed FANG. The drone is currently under development and undergoing Blue UAS certification, but once fielded with military users, the company says the first-person view system can carry lethal payloads or work in concert with ISR drones based on mission requirements. The FANG is limited to 10 minutes of flight time, according to the Red Cat release.
Earlier this month, Red Cat announced it intended to acquire FlightWave Aerospace Systems, in part to buy the rights to the latter company’s Edge 130 Blue drone. According to Red Cat, the Edge 130 Blue is a “hybrid VTOL [vertical takeoff and landing]” drone that weighs under 3 pounds and can be assembled and launched within a minute to collect “high accuracy aerial imagery with long-range autonomy.” It has roughly a two hour flight time in forward flight mode, the company says.
Rounding out Red Cat’s drone family is the firm’s existing Teal 2 system with features such as “night vision, multi-vehicle control, and a fully modular design,” according to the company’s release. With a flight time of 30 minutes, the drone can be combined with FPV drones like the FANG to assess battle damage once a target has been attacked.
According to Red Cat, the company is interested in further improving its drone offerings with new features like better batteries, improved command and control links and payloads with electro-optical or thermal imaging. The company plans to pursue those improvements through both internal R&D and partnerships with industry.
Red Cat’s FANG drone was unveiled at Eurosatory 2024. (Red Cat)
