Portugal’s Azore Islands as Arena for UAV Testing

Portugal’s Azore Islands as Arena for UAV Testing

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Drone USA, a developer and manufacturer of low altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and related technologies, announced it has entered into an agreement enabling the company to fly and test UAVs at the airport of Santa Maria island, in the Azores archipelago, in Portugal.

Drone USA’s markets its products to various defense customers (military), public safety (police, fire, emergency response), and high growth commercial applications such as agriculture, photogrammetry, mining, utilities, and entertainment.

The agreement was signed with the Portuguese Government (SMCT), the national aviation authority of Portugal (NAV) and Aeroportos de Portugal (airports’ management authority – ANA), as reported in a statement published by BusinessWire.

Michael Bannon, Drone USA’s Chief Executive Officer commented, “This agreement assures synergy and cooperation between flight operations, air traffic control, and the regional government, and is unique in terms of all the characteristics that come together to yield an optimal context for our sector.. we believe that this agreement will benefit not only the company, but the local community as well.”

Fausto Brito e Abreu, the Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science, and Technology said he believes that “the Azores offer a unique setting to test and develop UAVs, for operations over land and sea. The Azores Regional Government over the coming years will have a growing demand for these technologies, for environmental monitoring at sea, fisheries control and scientific research. Also, in 2017 we expect the Azores International Research Center (AIR Center) to be created and start its operations in oceans and climate science.”

Drone USA is discussing a proposal to create a UAV program based on Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) systems, tailored to the specific needs of the nine-island archipelago, and aimed at creating high-tech jobs and contributing to the local economy.

The proposal will be further discussed with the regional government, as well as with governmental and military entities in Lisbon, Portugal.

The initiative intends to address multiple needs such as the enforcement of fishery regulations, search and rescue operations, disaster response, prevention of contraband, environmental protection, and scientific research. The ultimate goal is to transfer operations, maintenance, logistics, and data acquisition and exploitation to an indigenous team, thus creating high tech jobs and allowing for progressive higher levels of operational autonomy at competitive budgets.