The British Army wants to expand its expertise in the field of micro-drones and has now signed a development contract with the start-up Flare Bright Ltd. for this purpose.
In order to protect their own soldiers and fight the enemy effectively, frontline soldiers increasingly need simple means of reconnaissance from the air. Ideally, these should be lightweight and compact, deployable quickly and without months of training, and provide the highest possible resolution images of the surroundings.
British micro drone manufacturer Flare Bright has been working on just such a system for years: despite its size and low weight, the compact SnapShot micro drone is said to be able to operate in strong winds, bad weather and almost all atmospheric conditions within a few seconds and be unaffected by electromagnetic signals. SnapShot also requires no GPS for control and, according to the manufacturer, delivers “high-quality aerial images from up to 100 meters above the ground”.
We are happy to announce that Flare Bright has been awarded a grant by DASA to further develop our nanodrone SnapShot!
– Flare Bright (@FlareBrightLtd) September 3, 2020
Sounds like a jack of all trades? Absolutely. And because the British Ministry of Defence also sees a high chance of market realization and actual operational suitability within the next three years, the ministry has now provided a sum of around 250,000 euros for the realization of a prototype.
Kelvin Hamilton, CEO of Flare Brigh, is delighted: “We already have ten years of software and AI development behind us and are confident that we can guarantee true autonomy regardless of the weather or other challenging circumstances. We expect our system to usher in a new era of autonomy for drones.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=40&v=bsGG6w5kidQ&feature=emb_title
