Red Cat expands drone lineup with FlightWave acquisition

Red Cat Holdings, a key player in drone technology, is acquiring California-based aerospace company FlightWave Aerospace Systems. FlightWave is known for its vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones, sensors, and software solutions. This acquisition will bring FlightWave’s advanced Edge 130 Blue sUAS offering into Red Cat’s range of uncrewed systems used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

Jeff Thompson, CEO of Red Cat, says that this move builds on FlightWave’s success and aligns with Red Cat’s goal to offer versatile and affordable drones for various operations.

“The planned acquisition builds on FlightWave’s accomplishments and continues our mission to provide low-cost, rucksack portable drones with diverse capabilities,” Thompson says. “The Edge 130 will boost our current Teal drones by providing longer range, better endurance, and additional capabilities, especially for maritime environments.”

This acquisition is also expected to support the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative, which aims to speed up the development and deployment of autonomous systems. Adding FlightWave’s Edge 130 to the Red Cat lineup is a key step in this direction, offering a strong platform to integrate with the company’s existing technology.

Dr. Trent Lukaczyk, cofounder and CTO of FlightWave, highlights the potential impact of joining Red Cat. “This partnership marks a major step forward in drone technology,” he says. “The Edge 130 is engineered to provide long-range aerial autonomy and is capable of performing long-distance Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) mapping, inspection, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions with exceptional accuracy.”

The Edge 130 Blue can be assembled and hand-launched in just one minute by a single user to capture high-accuracy aerial imagery with long-range autonomy. Weighing only 1,200 grams, the Edge has flown for over two hours in forward flight mode, an industry-leading endurance among all other Blue sUAS approved drones available.

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