Leptron UAS to manufacture Black Swift S1 UAS as a result of strategic alliance

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Black Swift Technologies (BST) and Leptron Unmanned Aircraft Systems have formed a strategic alliance that will result in Leptron UAS manufacturing the Black Swift S1 UAS integrated with BST’s SwiftCore Flight Management System.

Leptron and Geotech Environmental Equipment, Inc.—which Leptron is a subsidiary of—will market the resulting aircraft as the GeoSwift Mapper.

“From my perspective the only way to effectively address the light commercial and industrial market is to partner with other like-minded organizations and have each group focus on their strengths,” says Jeff Popiel, President and CEO, Leptron Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Inc., via sUAS News.

“In this case, Black Swift’s expertise is in advanced avionics and platform integration, while Leptron/Geotech focuses on manufacturing and training. The fact that the aircraft is manufactured entirely in the USA cannot be overlooked either.”

Jack Elston Ph.D., CEO, Black Swift Technologies, adds, “this alliance affords us the ability to refocus our attention on the strengths that have set us apart from other UAS providers in the market. It is a great example of collaboration between two progressive Colorado-based companies.”

As Elston mentions, both companies are based in Colorado, and both are active members of UAS Colorado, which is a “non-profit business league” that is dedicated to promoting and improving the state’s aerospace industry. Being members of this business league sparked the dialogue between the companies that resulted in this partnership.

In terms of the SwiftCore Flight Management System, it is an advanced flight management control system that is extremely accurate and reliable. It is designed to meet the demands of nomadic scientific field campaigns in harsh environments.

The SwiftCore Flight Management System has an intuitive user-focused interface, which makes flight planning simple and easy to accomplish. Mission monitoring and mapping are both completed from a handheld Android Tablet loaded with BST’s SwiftTab software.

Thanks to gesture-based controls, users can confidently deploy their aircraft with minimal training, and collect data over geography that is “topically diverse with confidence.”

“Their interface is very easy to use, very intuitive,” comments Daniel Hesselius, Director of Flight Operations, University of Colorado Boulder.

“They continue to improve that interface to make it more like what a manned aircraft would have, which I think is a positive.”