Whereas a lot of the drone {industry}’s consideration is on the AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2023 convention occurring this week on the Colorado Conference Heart, a massively vital drone was simply launched at a very completely different occasion. Navy expertise firm Crimson Cat formally launched its new military-grade sUAS, the Teal 2 drone, on the current 2023 AAAA Military Aviation Mission Options Summit.
The navy summit, which was held in Nashville, Tennessee, handled attendees to the world’s first-ever public show of the Teal 2 drone. The drone’s key differentiator is nighttime operations, a function that’s especially-crucial for navy operations.
“Most navy operations happen at night time, and the Teal 2 is strictly the sUAS that warfighters have been asking for,” Crimson Cat CEO Jeff Thompson mentioned in a ready assertion.
If the identify Teal 2 feels considerably acquainted to you, that’s as a result of the drone isn’t utterly new. It was beforehand out there solely to early-adopter prospects, which included U.S. Customs and Border Safety. The truth is, that company ordered 54 items of the Teal 2 to supply supplemental airborne reconnaissance, surveillance and monitoring functionality, enhancing situational consciousness for U.S. discipline commanders and brokers. Teal additionally had been visiting NATO nations to debate how Ukrainian forces may use the Teal 2 to counter Russian forces notably after darkish.
And now, the U.S.-made Teal 2 is now out there to order for navy, authorities and business functions.
The brand new Teal 2 drone is ready to be interesting for a couple of causes. Positive, there are the specs themselves (extra on these later), however the truth that it’s an American-made drone is very standout. The U.S.-made system is manufactured at Crimson Cat’s purpose-built manufacturing unit in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah.
Crimson Cat subsidiary Teal Drones can be licensed as “Blue UAS,” which is a designation given to producers who’re deemed licensed to supply gear to the U.S. navy. Teal can be one among solely three drone producers invited to take part within the U.S. Military’s Quick Vary Reconnaissance Tranche 2 (SRR T2), which was created to search out corporations that may ship a transportable drone usable inside military platoons for surveillance and reconnaissance duties, in addition to to enhance situational consciousness.
Concerning the Teal 2 drone
The Teal 2 drone, which is being marketed with the slogan ‘Dominate the Evening’ is a powerhouse within the darkness, largely due to a partnership with thermal digital camera maker FLIR. The drone is powered by a Snapdragon 845 as its most important processor.
With it, the Teal 2 claims the title of the primary drone to be outfitted with Teledyne FLIR’s new Hadron 640R sensor. This gives finish customers with the very best decision thermal imaging in a small (Group 1) type issue, optimized for nighttime operations (extra on the FLIR sensor right here).
The drone itself is tremendous small with a compact, rugged design that’s designed to be transportable in only a backpack. It weighs 2.75 lbs. The drone can fly for at the very least half-hour as much as a most flight pace of 23 mph, and it has a 5 km vary from the controller.
Talking of the controller, it’s referred to as Teal Air Management (TAC) and it provides AES-256 encryption with a 720p downlink decision. The Android-powered controller is heavier than the drone itself, at 3.7 lbs, and it has 6 hours of battery life.
Concerning the Hadron 640R twin visible-thermal payload
A standout function of the Teal 2 drone is its Hadron 640R twin visible-thermal payload. Just like the Teal 2 drone, the Hadron 640R can be made in the usA.
It pairs a 640×512 decision radiometric Boson thermal digital camera with a 64MP seen digital camera collectively right into a single easy-to-integrate module designed for drones just like the Teal 2, in addition to different unmanned floor automobiles (UGV), robotic platforms, and AI-ready functions the place battery life and run-time are mission-critical.
“Teledyne FLIR maintains a formidable monitor file of innovation by creating industry-leading thermal imaging sensors and supporting integrators by the event and launch cycle,” mentioned George Matus, founder and CEO of Teal, in a ready assertion. “Hadron 640R gives the military-grade Teal 2 with the situational consciousness front-line personnel require to dominate the night time in assist of protection and public security operations in quite a lot of environments.”
See the Teal 2 drone in motion, right here:
Teal is owned by Puerto Rico-based Crimson Cat, which owns notable enterprise and navy drone corporations like Teal and Skypersonic. It additionally not too long ago invested in Firestorm, a U.S.-based firm constructing a modular drone that can be 3D-printed and payload agnostic (which may show to be a severe navy drone duo when paired with Teal’s choices). Crimson Cat additionally has partnerships with Tomahawk Robotics and Reveal Know-how.
Teal began within the early 2010s, led by a then teenage founder with the promise of modular drones largely centered at shoppers. Its founder, George Matus, is now in his 20s, and Teal is concentrated now on navy drones.
In 2019, Teal grew to become one among six corporations awarded a collective $11 million to design and construct drones that meet Military necessities. In 2020 it launched the Teal Golden Eagle, a $14,800 business drone platform designed for aerial surveillance that’s on the Division of Defenses’ Protection Innovation Unit Blue UAS Cleared Record.
