Teal Drones tapped for US Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance Tranche 2 bid

Utah-based security UAV specialist Teal Drones has been selected to develop a prototype craft in a final stage of the US Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance Tranche 2 (SRR T2) Program, which aims to create a powerful but portable small craft for surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

A unit of hardware-enabled drone software provider Red Cat Holdings since September, Teal was tapped by the US Army to create a small, rucksack portable prototype craft providing platoons with situational awareness of remote terrain they can’t yet see from the ground. To do so, the company will use its experience in producing its Department of Defense compliant Golden Eagle UAV, which is already used for information collection by combat soldiers, police officers, firefighters, wildlife managers, and industrial inspectors.

As reported yesterday, Teal is also moving to supply Ukraine’s armed forces with Golden Eagle drones for defense missions against invading the Russian army. The company says onboard tech includes a high-resolution 4K camera and forward-looking infrared thermographic sensor; Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 mobile computing platform; obstacle avoidance system; full-blown data security; and an acoustic-masking makeup that make it nearly inaudible. It calls the drone’s rugged-design, high-range, and long-endurance assets a potentially vital tool for Ukraine’s efforts to thwart Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, Teal will be working to create a next-generation small reconnaissance drone for the US Army. Following its successful demonstration last September, Teal this week said it had been selected to advance to the prototype phase of the SRR T2 program. As part of that it was awarded $1.5 million to produce an architype UAV meeting or exceeding the Army’s technical system requirements of SRR T2.

Teal Drones CEO George Matus, who founded the company in 2014 at the age of 16, cheered the announcement awaiting what he hopes will ultimately become a full production contract with the US Army.

“The rigorous technical requirements and program objectives of SRR T2 dramatically narrowed the field from over three dozen drone manufacturers to just a handful that were selected by the Army to move forward with the program,” Matus says. “We believe this puts us among the most elite drone manufacturers in the world and, consequently, is a significant recognition of our capabilities.” 

“The $1.5 million prototype contract we were awarded for SRR T2 reinforces the sophistication and technical expertise of our entire Teal Team,” he added. “We look forward to developing the Army’s next-generation sUAS to improve the safety and lethality of our warfighters.”

Teal’s Golden Eagle was one of five US-produced drones named to the Blue sUAS list in August 2020, and was later approved for use by the Department of Defense and other US federal agencies.