Drone Aviation Awarded $1.7 Million by DoD for Enhanced WASP Tactical Aerostat
Drone Aviation Holding Corp., a manufacturer of tethered drones and lighter-than-air aerostats, today announced that it has received its largest single contract award to date for its multi-mission capable tactical Winch Aerostat Small Platform (“WASP”). The latest Department of Defense (“DoD”) customer order is the third repeat order awarded to the Company for its WASP and comes as the result of a growing number of successful international deployments with military personnel.
Under terms of the contract valued in excess of $1.7 million, the Company anticipates delivery of the WASP tactical aerostat before the end of the third quarter of 2018. This order includes high performance payloads designed for day/night Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), secure multi-frequency and multi-wave form communications and operator training.
“Today’s $1.7 million contract award, the largest received by the Company to date, reconfirms the growing interest in the WASP based upon actual deployment experience and our ability to cost-effectively deliver ISR and secure Comms at the at the edge of the battlefield. Most importantly, in contrast to the significant expense and logistical challenges associated with the larger, mostly fixed infrastructure aerostat systems deployed today, WASP is rapidly deployable and mobile, providing nearly unmatched mission flexibility,” said Dan Erdberg, President of Drone Aviation. “We look forward to further serving the needs of this important customer by delivering persistent, aerial solutions that enable our military to meet both current and future mission requirements.”
“We are pleased to have received this repeat order, the second from the DoD in just over four months. Milestone contracts such as this demonstrates that our sales pipeline continues to expand and is further evidence of our growing leadership position in the tactical aerostat market. Our ongoing dedication to innovation in aerostat development gives us confidence in our ability to deliver solutions that meet the needs of today’s military and position us for additional contracts in 2018,” added Jay Nussbaum, Chairman and CEO of Drone Aviation Corp.
The WASP is a highly tactical and mobile aerostat system which can be operated by as few as two soldiers and can provide day/night video, secure multi-frequency and multi-wave form wireless communication range extension capability at the edge of the battlefield from either a fixed, stationary position or while being towed. Over the past four years, U.S. Army-owned WASP systems have successfully completed thousands of hours of soldier training operations, various DoD exercises, and customer operations. WASP is currently being utilized by the DoD as a mobile, tactical aerial solution that can support multi-mission profiles involving ground and aerial-based assets through communication retransmission. Operating at altitudes of up to 1,500 feet AGL, the WASP system can significantly extend ISR capabilities and secure communications in remote and austere locations. The soldier-operated systems can be rapidly configured to support a variety of mission requirements for days, weeks or months with customized payloads.
