Red Cat sending 200 fast, long-range Teal FPV drones to Ukraine

The owner of Utah security and defense UAV producer Teal drones, Red Cat Holdings, says it is moving to deliver 200 long-range first person view (FPV) UAVs to Ukraine for use in the nation’s anticipated counter-offensive against invading Russian forces. 

Red Cat said it expects to hand over the relatively large number of specialized FPV drones sometime in June. The development follows CEO Jeff Thompson’s meetings with NATO leaders in February to discuss the possibility of providing Ukraine with Teal military aerial tech. That effort apparently led to the transaction that will deliver 200 of the long-range, high-speed UAVs to Kyiv in coming weeks.

Read: Teal drones to be equipped with Immervision sensors for low-light data collection missions

A Red Cat communiqué described the Teal-made craft as having “the highest power-to-weight ratio in the drone industry, offering increased maneuverability, especially when combined with the FPV functionality of the drones.” It noted the UAVs can also be flown in GPS-denied and -jammed battlefield conditions

DroneDJ requested additional descriptions of the system, including its name, flight range, battery capacity, designed mission objectives, potential for delivering munitions, and other specs. It has not thus far received that information, but will provide it to readers in future reporting when it’s available. 

No sign of an FPV drone or other product similar to the UAVs bound for Ukraine appear on either the Teal or Red Cat sites.

What does, by contrast, is the Teal 2 drone – the most recent military-grade UAV addition to the company’s stable, and one Red Cat wants to supply Ukraine with once its inbound FPV assets have proven their merit.

A successor to the Golden Eagle drone, the Teal 2 is equipped with an array of specialized tech enabling machine-learning capabilities and high-speed tracking of objects permitted rapid decision-making support by defense users. Also aboard is Teledyne FLIR’s new Hadron 640R sensor optimized for operation in the dark, and inspiring Teal 2’s promise to “Dominate the Night.”

Read more: Red Cat integrates Athena AI tech to new Teal 2 military-grade drones

Since acquiring Teal last year, Red Cat has been steadily shifting its drone development and marketing away from enterprise and consumer sectors toward hard core security, defense, and US government and military clients. That strategy has proven productive, resulting in deals including the sale of 54 Teal 2s to US Customs and Border Protection, and advancing Teal’s role in the US Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance Tranche 2 (SRR T2) Program.

Read more: Red Cat to sell consumer drone units Rotor Riot and Fat Shark to focus on security specialist Teal

Now Thompson is hoping to put that military focus, expanded business activity, and increased production of Teal drones to use aiding Ukraine push invading Russian forces back to their own borders.

“Red Cat has the US manufacturing capacity required to quickly deliver on such orders,” said Thompson said of potential procurement requests from Ukraine after delivery of the FPV drones. “We are pleased to provide our product to Ukrainian drone pilots, and we look forward to continuing to engage with them, including by providing our new nighttime drone, the Teal 2. Much of drone activity is performed at night, and the Teal 2 is at the forefront of nighttime drone capabilities.”