Applied Aeronautics

Lore & Background

Applied Aeronautics was founded by Ryan Johnston and Justin Martin with the goal of developing a UAV platform that would sit between the two extremes in the unmanned aircraft market: the low cost and high fragility of traditional hobbyist drones on one end, and the high cost of durable, professional drones on the other. Johnston and Martin were joined by Meg Annand in 2015 to lead operations. The company hoped to 'swoop into the sweet spot in the middle, creating a useful tool that people could actually buy and use'. When the company launched in 2014, their UAV platform was roughly 1/10 the price of competing systems while carrying a similarly robust feature set.

The Albatross is a pusher-prop with an inverted V-tail, a 9.8-foot (3.0 m) wingspan, and a carbon fiber body. It looks a bit like the military RQ-7 Shadow drone but can be purchased for less than US$2,000. Options include a ground control station, carrying case, encrypted live HD video link, and a number of cameras. The Albatross has an endurance of 2–5 hours, a range of 150–350 km, and a cruise speed of 18 m/s. It can take off from a runway, unpaved road, or catapult in 50 ft (15 m).

Reader's Guide

Applied Aeronautics has placed drones in over 50 countries and on every continent, focusing on industries such as disaster response, search and rescue, pipeline surveillance, precision agriculture, natural resources, insurance, education, conservation, mining, and public safety. The company counts NASA among its globally recognized clients. In 2019, the Albatross UAV was in use by the University of El Paso NASA MIRO Center for Space Exploration and Research to develop the first countywide-area operational low-altitude UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system. The Albatross received notable regulatory approvals: Transport Canada certified it for commercial operations as of June 1, 2019; in March 2019, SkyQraft flew it under the first drone license for BVLOS applications in Sweden; and in November 2019, it received FAA approval for the first BVLOS flight without ground-based radar or a visual observer, using Iris Automation's Casia detect and avoid system. In 2022, the Albatross was declared compliant with US NDAA Section 848. Partnerships include a 2022 agreement with Cambium to produce high-survivability group 1, 2, and 3 UAS for military and commercial customers, and selection by the University of North Dakota, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and Kansas University as the test bed for FAA-sponsored UAS right-of-way research under the ASSURE program. In July 2024, Boeing deployed four Albatross UAVs at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre in Wales, integrating Boeing’s autonomy software to enable autonomous collaboration as an Air-Launched Effect swarm.

Did You Know?

• The Albatross UAV has a wingspan of 9.8 feet (3.0 m) and a carbon fiber body.
• Applied Aeronautics was founded in 2014 by Ryan Johnston and Justin Martin.