Joel Sercel

One of the key issues for the future of this industry is going to be automating and/or streamlining the design/development and production of future UAV/Drones. Just as in any other industries the future lies in improving and advancing production technology (e.g. Model Based System Engineering, Toyota Production Systems, Lean & Six Sigma and 3D Printing). Do you know of UAV/Drone companies that are actively pursuing or embedding this approach? Do you have ideas on how we can encourage this? "Virginia-based unmanned aerial systems developer RapidFlight recently announced they had received a visit from U.S. Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA1), Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, to their Manassas headquarters. Over a more than two-hour-long tour, RapidFlight demonstrated their innovative, additive manufacturing (better known as 3D printing) based approach to bringing maximum operational flexibility to the battlefield." "RapidFlight’s main product, called AgileAviation, includes over 20 different UAV designs that can be flexibly adapted and manufactured on-site to fit fast-changing mission parameters. Their proprietary hardware-software stack is designed to allow American companies to compete with drone makers abroad, who have previously been able to take advantage of economies of scale to price out their opposition." "During the visit, Wittman highlighted the importance of scalable drone solutions to the US and its allies, helping them address a rapidly changing security environment. We get so wrapped up in doing science project after science project, but you have to be able to scale it and have an operational effect,” said Wittman, discussing the current state of Pentagon technology development. “What you all do here is the secret sauce that we need to be able to act quickly.” "Wittman was key to the passage of the American Security Drone Act within the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which banned the procurement or use of UAVs manufactured by China. As part of this push, he has visited multiple domestic drone developers to check in on the state of the American drone industry." #uavdevelopment #dronedevelopment https://lnkd.in/eGgazyrq

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There are better aircraft that can still be NDAA compliant than what is on the #blueuas list. Remember how we had PoR's that would determine the best aircraft, and not just ones that are on a barely useful "list"? I said what I said. Out of 6 incredible aircraft, the Army chose the only 2 that are on the list. Screw our allies I guess? Can't wait to see what Elbit Systems, Quantum Systems, Edge Autonomy , and AeroVironment have to say about this MRR Traunch. https://lnkd.in/e6ipCuYW

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17 Comments

Here's a milestone in the quest for the real hypersonic engine, following on from my last Hermeus-related publication. The explanations are interesting, but don't miss the video. https://lnkd.in/eK-SK3UM

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