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Swarm Aero, developer of large uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms, has selected Northwest Arkansas as the site for its advanced, high-volume manufacturing of uncrewed aircraft.

Drones have become increasingly impactful in the construction industry, offering a range of benefits that improve efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness.

Over the last 13 years, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has explored the use of polymer/composite and metal additive manufacturing (AM) as a cost- and time-saving alternative to conventional manufacturing,

The drone industry in 2023 experienced transformative changes, highlighted by significant regulatory shifts, technological advancements, and a growing global market. Much has already been written about the drone industry's achievement in 2023. For a recap of the top stories by category, or a closer look at the 11 biggest news, feel free to check out the respective articles from our partners.

Native American tribes in Oklahoma have poured more than $15.6 billion into the state, while generating billions more from companies that support the tribes' business operations, according to the most recent Oklahoma Native Impact report (fiscal year 2019). The report illustrates how Oklahoma's 38 federally recognized tribes have made an unprecedented impact on the Sooner State's economy through a diverse portfolio of businesses including gaming and hospitality, manufacturing, real estate, retail and professional services, UAS/AAM, among others.

AUVSI and Industry Leaders Launch Unprecedented Campaign to Propel Advanced Air Mobility

Skydio and Trimble Collaborate on New Integration for Utilities, Construction and State Transportation Agencies

In the ever-evolving realm of aerospace, where the boundaries of human ingenuity seem to stretch infinitely, groundbreaking innovations are continually reshaping the landscape of flight. From cutting-edge materials to disruptive technologies, the aerospace industry is experiencing a revolution marked by unprecedented advancements in various domains.

Launched at the beginning of 2019 and currently employing more than 120 research engineers and student technicians, the Advanced Technologies Lab for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS) at Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) is a makerspace for industry-scale automated manufacturing research.

Innovation is soaring to new heights in aerial mobility, and recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are challenging the ways traditional methods of flight path monitoring.

In a new collaboration, Skyports Drone Services, a drone logistics, survey, and monitoring operations company, has teamed up with Norwegian energy company Equinor to lead a new project in the aerial mobility sector. This partnership aims to improve cargo logistics for offshore oil installations in the North Sea, setting a new standard for efficiency, safety, and sustainability.

The Oklahoma business climate is vibrant with growth of traditional industries invigorated with other sectors in more nascent stages. Economic development projects announced in 2022 and led by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce are expected to bring more than 7,000 new jobs and $3.7 billion in new private investment.

In a recent statement, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has addressed two crucial initiatives aimed at facilitating the safe and seamless integration of advanced air mobility (AAM) into the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS).

Five pitches to persuade young talent with valuable technical skills to join the A&D sector.

Tulsa, whose existing manufacturing base in energy and aviation has experienced erosion, is one of scores of communities leveraging federal grants under the $1.9 trillion Build Back Better American Rescue Plan, approved in 2021. Tulsa will use the money it's been awarded to help reset and reposition its backbone industries.

The jet engines on commercial airplanes can be absolutely huge. Technically known as turbofans, these machines have massive spinning fans in the front that create thrust by sending air out the back. One specific engine model has a fan that measures about 11 feet across. The engines burn jet fuel, create huge amounts of thrust, and are very loud. 
But what if you could point a ray gun at them and shrink them way down, make them electric, and better yet, very quiet? That's the goal of a company called Whisper Aero, which was founded in 2021.

New Research on Producing Hydrogen from Seawater Could Help Boost Hydrogen Drone Tech

The upcoming AIRTAXI World Congress in San Francisco is finally breaking the ice with what promises to be a show that will go down in history.

Increased automation would be gamechanger for manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles and urban air mobility.

During the 2023 Paris Air Show, Archer Aviation Inc. and Stellantis announced progress in their strategic manufacturing partnership. Construction is currently ongoing on the world's first high-volume eVTOL aircraft manufacturing facility located on a roughly 100-acre Covington, Georgia-based campus. Recently, Stellantis raised its strategic shareholding by way of a series of purchases of Archer stock in the open market.

3D printing typically involves a single machine creating an object. But a team of undergraduate researchers has taken that paradigm far outside its box in the Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing (DREAMS) Lab, led by L.S. Randolph Professor Chris Williams.

AUVSI Xponential is taking place in Denver this week.  This morning, the keynote sessions kicked off, including a conversation on cybersecurity issues with AUVSI's Chief Advocacy Officer Michael Robbins and Tobias Whitney, VP of Strategy and Policy at Fortress Information Security

Today in Denver at Xponential 2023, a panel of experts discussed a topic on the minds of everyone in the industry: how do we make aviation profitable?

WindShape, a trailblazing Swiss company established in 2016, has been revolutionizing the drone industry through research, development, testing, inspection, certification, and validation. In an ambitious effort to extend its global presence, WindShape is announcing a strategic partnership with the Osage tribal nation, to open a cutting-edge indoor drone testing and validation facility at the Skyway36 Droneport and Technology Innovation Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Cybersecurity risks is the highest ranked obstacle addressed via smart manufacturing initiatives

As the drone industry grows and new manufacturers enter the market, is the use of open source drone platforms growing?  The Dronecode Foundation, the organizing force behind the PX4 open source drone ecosystem, has published their Year in Review report for 2022: and the metrics tell an interesting story.

Not enough American companies managing to comply with the Blue sUAS program perhaps? It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

The combined power of AI and robotics is revolutionizing mobility and manufacturing. Automated vehicles, airplanes, people movers, and warehouse robots are improving in their range, flexibility, situational awareness, and intelligence, while better technology, a hunger for increased productivity and efficiency, and the pressures of covid-19 lockdowns have fueled investment in autonomous systems. In 2020 and 2021, market debuts for self-driving vehicles alone boasted a collective initial valuation of over $50 billion.

It might take a while for air taxis to take off as manufacturers ramp up production and public officials figure out how to regulate and plan for them, panelists said during a Friday discussion at the CES trade show in Las Vegas.

If you think you can model eVTOL aircraft charging based on the same systems used for electric cars, think again.
That is the message from Josh Portlock, the CTO of Electro, an Australia-based company that manufactures electric aircraft charging products. Portlock delivered his pitch at the recent Vertical Aviation Safety Team (VAST) conference.

Jaunt, a maker of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has signed a letter of intent with Québec-based Vertiko Mobility for an intended initial purchase of 71 Jaunt Journey eVTOLs. It also signed an LOI with Mint Air of South Korea for 40 aircraft to serve the Korean air taxi market.

Oklahoma City based DronePort Network (DPN) has entered into a contract with Osage LLC to develop and manage Skyway 36.

Ed Hill talks to Erik de Seeuw, market manager manufacturing at additive manufacturing experts Materialise and Balazs Kerulo, chief engineer at LIFT Aircraft, about the development of the HEXA eVTOL, a single-seat, semi-autonomous personal aerial vehicle.

Aviation is one of the most innovative industries in the world. It is underpinned by some of the world's brightest minds, captivating startups, and multi-billion dollar organizations that invest colossal sums in highly advanced R&D programs it is a sector that continues to evolve and progress at supersonic speed, with a track record of achieving the impossible.

Our goal at Flyover Future is to highlight the innovation and entrepreneurship going on in the heartland of the U.S. This week, we touch down in St. Louis, a city becoming known for its work in geospatial intelligence, to speak with the co-founders of WingXpand, an aerospace startup that manufactures aviation and aerospace components. James Barbieri is co-founder and CEO of WingXpand and Michelle Madaras is its co-founder and chief customer officer. We spoke to them from Los Angeles where they are participating in the TechStars program.

TOPODRONE, a Swiss based designer and manufacturer of high-precision LiDAR equipment for installation on drones, vehicles and backpacks, launches AQUAMAPPER, a UAV-based solution for bathymetric surveying and marine construction. The new multitasking data collecting device and TOPODRONE LiDAR ULTRA equipment have been successfully used together for airborne surveying at a highway construction project in Romania, EU to deliver a full digital twin of a studied area. 

The $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract will provide funding for VerdeGo to perform advanced risk reduction on the VH-3-185 hybrid powerplant, which has applications to both military and commercial high-performance electric aircraft.

LuftCar announces plans to develop HYDROB, a hydrogen fuel cell – battery hybrid propulsion system for the Advanced Air Mobility market.

Counter drone systems (cUAS) are designed to detect, identify and mitigate unauthorized drones.  Unmanned traffic management   (UTM) solutions are a framework of regulations and technology products that work to provide a system providing stakeholders with a view of airspace traffic that allows commercial operators to avoid collisions and cooperate in shared airspace.

The NAAMCE will feature a two-story, 30,000ft2 office building to house administrative, laboratory, meeting, and collaboration space, with 25,000ft2 of aircraft hangar space available for use by the U.S. Air Force and private industry. The center will support the expanding work of manufacturers and operators of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for advanced air mobility (AAM).

Governors Kevin Stitt and Asa Hutchinson joined together to position the Oklahoma-Arkansas region as a national hub for advanced mobility (AM) with the support of partners Tulsa Innovation Labs and Runway Group. The collaborative effort to support the growth of the AM industry, including drones, electric and autonomous vehicles, battery manufacturing, and transportation and logistics solutions, will create new research and testing space, support local AM startups, attract new companies, and convene industry corporations to test and scale new technologies. 

Edge Autonomy, a leader in unmanned and autonomous technology, announced today that it has acquired Adaptive Energy (or "the Company"), a globally recognized designer and manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for backup, off grid and UAV power. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Mayman Aerospace, developer of an optionally-piloted, single-seat, high-powered VTOL utility aircraft, recently unveiled a prototype of its 'Speeder' at the 2022 Draper Venture Network CEO Summit in Northern California.

From Sustainable Fuels to Airport Infrastructure Analysis to Next-Gen Aircraft, NREL Offers Solutions for Lowering Emissions in a Sector That Is Among the Most Difficult To Decarbonize

Drones have emerged as an important tool in the delivery of medicines around the world. Here are three main ways these unmanned vehicles are transforming the supply chain

Essentium, Inc., a leading innovator of industrial additive manufacturing (AM) solutions, today announced Axle Box Innovations, a public safety technology developer, is using Essentium AM technology to support the development of US-made 3D printed drones for fire management and protection.

Essentium, Inc., a leading innovator of industrial additive manufacturing (AM) solutions, today announced Axle Box Innovations, a public safety technology developer, is using Essentium AM technology to support the development of US-made 3D printed drones for fire management and protection.

The study will address scalability and distributed production as the urban air mobility (UAM) market evolves to meet projected demand.

The Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport was a destination recently for one of the longest cross-country flights performed by an electric aircraft of any kind in North America since 2016.

Let's pretend you know nothing about additive manufacturing (AM), more commonly referred to as 3D printing. Given that this industry-changing technology has been with us for more than three decades, that assumption is highly unlikely but is nonetheless the premise behind this "dummies" style article. If you're already an expert on the topic, feel free to go do something more interesting, like 3D printing some cool parts or binge-watching the latest Netflix series.