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So you wanna be a drone manufacturer… ?

Anticipating a dramatic surge in demand for drones that established manufacturers will struggle to meet, a Connecticut-based company is offering a turnkey package allowing anyone to build and sell the craft on their own. All you need is space to set up a mini-factory.

One-stop shop for aspiring UAV entrepreneurs

Aquiline Drones has teamed up with nonprofit tech incubator MakerspaceCT to launch the kit permitting people to build commercial drones at home – or wherever they opt to set up shop. Known as the Aquiline Agile Manufacturing Pod (AMP), the package is based on a modular unit in which one to three workers use pre-manufactured components to assemble reliable, fully functional commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). 

The standard units can be set up in a day, and anywhere there’s free space and access to utilities: garages, private homes, schools, community centers, etc. The basic model comes with pre-fabricated and tested advanced interconnected electronic components; micro-manufactured parts; and other drone hardware to assemble UAV with. More ambitious entrepreneurs can opt for larger modules facilitating bigger production volumes and more sophisticated integrated tech like artificial intelligence apps. 

Aquiline, which provides a variety of products and solutions – from basic online pilot training to entire systems offering cloud-run UAV management system of autonomous drone operations and real-time control – says its AMP package has several interlacing objectives. 

Promising work, income, and US-built drones

The first is to provide the means with which enterprising people can begin working to meet what Aquiline calls an already booming demand for drones. The company believes that red-hot market is set to explode when President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure renovation plan thrusts UAV into the heart of inspection and mapping efforts. 

Meanwhile, Aquiline thinks AMP will nourish new job creation and robust income flows for many Americans looking for a way to bounce back from the pandemic’s impact on the labor market and wider economy. And that production, notes Aquiline founder and CEO Barry Alexander, will yield countless US-built drones for American companies already concerned with access to their UAV data.

Using foreign manufactured drones to inspect our nation’s critical infrastructure, exposes (operators) to potential cybersecurity breaches…In our new on-demand economy, agile workspaces are becoming a necessity to combat the struggle of work-life balance currently impacting approximately 29% of Americans. Instead of a one-time, back-to-work payout, it makes more sense for the government to invest $15,000 in equipment that will generate a long-term, high-yielding revenue stream for individuals and businesses alike.

An integrated AI system is included in AMP to facilitate and speed the completion of tasks in drone assembly, and streamline inventory, quality control, and shipping. The AMP offer is initially limited to the US, but Aquiline and MakerspaceCT are examining possible international distribution as well.

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Avatar for Bruce Crumley Bruce Crumley

Bruce Crumley is journalist and writer who has worked for Fortune, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, and was Paris correspondent and bureau chief for Time magazine specializing in political and terrorism reporting. He splits his time between Paris and Biarritz, and is the author of novel Maika‘i Stink Eye.

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