The U.S. Army selected Vantage Robotics in April 2019 to rapidly develop portable, Short-Range Reconnaissance (SRR) UAV prototypes to a performance specification for fielding as early as 2020. The SRR is intended to be an inexpensive, rucksack portable, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) small unmanned aircraft that provides platoons with a rapidly deployable intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability to provide situational awareness beyond the next terrain feature. The SRR is desired to be made by an American company like Vantage.
We are proud and excited to have developed a system that meets and exceeds the Army’s requirement and we expect to see it serving our nation’s soldiers as early as 2020 as well as other military services, federal entities, and first responders throughout the United States and in allied nations. This is Vantage’s first foray into the defense sector and we are proud to have been selected to compete with a handful of other domestic drone manufacturers.
Under this contract, Vantage has developed a UAV designated as the Vesper with over 30-minute endurance, over 3 km radio range, thermal and low light sensors, government-grade security, and significantly improved portability and stealth. Vantage built on prior successes in creating this product and drew on our extensive experience with ultra-miniature gimbals, modular drone architectures, radically simple interfaces, and low latency 4K video streaming.
We will offer the Vesper to select customers in 2020, with a focus on first responders, other government customers, and commercial entities who need the specific capabilities and form factor that the Vesper offers. We look forward to sharing with you our progress as we develop the next generation of portable drones for the battlefield. To see the full specifications for the SRR program, click here.
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