Company hopes new technology will help identify drones at U.S. border
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
With its planned acquisition of a leading airspace management company, Orlando-based Unusual Machines is poised to be able to provide government agencies and other entities with a greater ability to determine the origins of drones flying in the area of the U.S.-Mexico border, CEO Allan Evans said in an interview.
In February, Unusual Machines announced its planned merger with Aloft Technologies, for approximately $14.5 million. Aloft, whose technologies power more than 70% of all FAA-approved Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) airspace authorizations in the United States, had recently announced the launch of its Air Boss product, which provides real-time situational awareness and allows greater collaboration across different agencies’ jurisdictions.
In recent months there have been a growing number of reports of cartels operating out of Mexico flying drones near or across the border with the U.S. At the same time, there has been an increasing number of drones — flown by land surveyors, journalists and hobbyists — flying within the same airspace. That number is expected to increase dramatically, whenever the FAA eventually adopts its new rules for BVLOS flights in the U.S.
The deployment of Air Boss would allow federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, aviation officials and other interested parties to share information to help them distinguish legitimate drone missions from those conducted by hostile actors, Evans said.
“I think that’s a very interesting framework that we’ll have to consider. As the FAA BVLOS rule comes into effect, how do you know if it’s a cartel drone or government drone or just somebody out doing a home inspection?” Evans said. “Aloft is starting to launch Air Boss, which lets everybody share certain amounts of information in the zone, including individual operators.”
The recent spate of suspected drone sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere has highlighted the difficult issue of identifying drones operating in U.S. airspace. The question of drone identification is particularly of concern to officials on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border, he said.
“I think it becomes a very challenging place to identify legitimate operators from illegitimate operators.”
While the FAA’s Remote ID rule provides part of the solution, Evans said the key to achieving awareness of who is flying drones in the border area lies in collaboration among the various agencies operating in the region.
“I think the first step is, you identify what is a cartel drone. I think it’s coordinating with the Mexican government and with drone operators on both sides, instead of just speculating that it’s a cartel drone,” he said. “If we do that then we’re going to be a lot more effective at countering any of the (illicit) activities that people are trying to do with drones, rather than just allowing people to pull out a shotgun and try to shoot a drone out of the sky.”
Unusual Machines, which produces drones and related components, recently announced it plans to expand the production of its Blue Framework products, designed to be compliant with National Defense Authorization Act’s requirements, of great importance to U.S. government agencies and other customers.
In a recent letter to shareholders, outlining the company’s financial results for Fiscal Year 2024, its first full year as a publicly traded company, Evans wrote, “We expect more products to get Blue Framework certified.”
He said the company hopes to be able to introduce U.S.-made drone components to the market at competitive prices and to take advantage of tariffs and other restrictions designed to encourage U.S. manufacturing growth to improve Unusual Machine’s profit margins.
In particular, Evans pointed to a recent development that has created a larger marketplace for Unusual Machines’ U.S.-manufactured products. In January, Jiangxi Xintuo Enterprise Co LTD, a Chinese-owned company that owns and operates T-Motor, was added to the U.S. government’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List.
“For many years T-Motor has provided drone motors to drone manufacturers across the globe. Their addition to the SDN list means that sanctions have been placed against them; All U.S. persons and companies are not permitted to conduct any further business with T-Motor,” he wrote.
Evans said he thinks the U.S. government should continue to take a strong role in promoting the U.S.-based drone industry, at the expense of UAVs made in China and other nations considered to be less than friendly to America.
“I think that the government, which is taxpayer money, should use itself as a marketplace to support the supply chain for American products that they believe are critical,” he said. In regard to the drone industry, he said the U.S. government should adopt a policy similar to the CHIPS Act, which was passed to promote the domestic manufacture of microchips.
“I think it’s important to begin to look toward using a significant marketplace to allow capitalism to cause domestic producers to really catch up to China,” he said.
In addition to market considerations, Evans argued there are national security-related reasons for the government to try to suppress the growth of China’s share of the U.S. drone market.
“I think the security issue poses very real questions like: Do you want someone else to have a full 3D map of everything going on in real time? And I think that some people might say, “Yeah, it’s fine.” But I would say that having that data stay inside the US is pretty important,” he said.
“I think taxpayer money should go to support our citizens rather than to a country that doesn’t exhibit our value system.”
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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