FIXAR, the Latvian manufacturer of an innovative fixed-wing VTOL drone, has struck an agreement with Canada’s largest drone solution companies. Volatus Aerospace, Inc. will build up to 1200 FIXAR drones annually at its Ontario facility.
When FIXAR came to North America, the company immediately caught our attention. Specifically, we liked the design and capabilities of its FIXAR 007 drone. With extended range and the ability to carry a significant payload (two kilograms) in a swappable payload bay, it’s got a lot going for it. And it seems that Volatus Aerospace also sees the value proposition.
Now, drones destined for sales in North America will be manufactured at a Volatus facility in Ontario, Canada.
Airport facility
The manufacturing will take place in a massive hangar (and we do mean massive) at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport in Oro, Ontario. Roughly one-third of the huge building will be transformed in the short term into a manufacturing facility. Volatus will be contributing roughly $1 million to the project in setup, business development, and technical support.
Volatus is a pretty big name in the drone world. The company has nine offices scattered throughout the Americas, including six in Canada. Its 112 drone operators have racked up an impressive tally when it comes to flight time: 19,000 hours of piloting over some 29,000 industrial missions. Oh, and they have 140 different drones, according to the news release. (We’re guessing maybe they’re not all different, but that’s a lot of birds either way.)
For FIXAR, it’s a perfect fit:
Volatus Aerospace offers everything that we require in a strategic partner. They are opening a first-class manufacture center; they have depth of expertise for advanced and BVLOS pilot and operational training; they offer distribution coast-to-coast in Canada and have recently opened operations in the USA.
Yulia Druzhnikova, FIXAR director of global expansion
You can check out a brief video showing the FIXAR 007 in action here:
The FIXAR difference
The company’s drones truly are different from other fixed-wing VTOLs. The motors do not change pitch, meaning fewer moving parts and greater reliability. Because all four motors remain in operation throughout all phases of flight, the drone doesn’t carry the dead weight common in many 4+1 configurations, where the lifting motors shut down during forward flight.
The clue is in its name. FIXAR stands for Fixed Angle Rotors. That means the position of the motors does not change when the aircraft transitions. It’s a patented design and allows the aircraft to seamlessly transition between vertical and forward flight. The increased range of the unit can be really useful when you want to inspect something longer – like a pipeline or road, for example.
Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus Aerospace
The combination of the FIXAR 007’s range, VTOL abilities, and payload capacity make the drone ideal for a wide variety of missions. The news release says it’s suitable for “applications including mapping/photogrammetry, laser scanning (LiDAR), last-mile delivery, precision agriculture, critical infrastructure monitoring and more.”
Demonstration flights are available now; check out the FIXAR website for more information.
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