Brenda Marie Rivers
The U.S. Army has selected Redwood City, California-based drone maker Skydio to commence final integration activities for the company’s X2D short-range reconnaissance unmanned platform.
The decision comes after the XD2 SRR drone completed limited objective experiments and a limited user test with the Army Test and Evaluation Command to support the service branch’s goal of prototyping a small unmanned aircraft system for reconnaissance and surveillance missions, Skydio said Tuesday.
The program is meant to support the Army's UAS project manager within the Program Executive Office for Aviation located in Huntsville, Alabama.
X2D features a portable airframe, a FLIR thermal sensor and GPS navigation technologies for strobe lighting and night flight to support operations in difficult environmental conditions.
The UAS is also fitted with the artificial intelligence-based Skydio Autonomy software for unmanned flight operations and is designed for missions such as security patrol and search-and-rescue, the company noted.
Adam Bry, CEO of Skydio, said the selection builds on the company’s years of conducting research and development activities in autonomous flight technologies.
Skydio’s UAS products have previously supported applications such as public safety, inspection and defense.
