Scaling Manufacturing and Production for 'Data as a Service' Electric Drone

November 24, 2024

The K1000ULE is an all-electric solar-powered drone that can also be used as a flying cell tower. (Image: Kraus Hamdani Aerospace)

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced a new $20 million award to Kraus Hamdani Aerospace for its Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program. Under the contract, Kraus Hamdani, the California-based manufacturer, will use the funding to support the production of its K1000ULE unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

The K1000ULE is a solar-powered glider drone that has demonstrated the ability to fly non-stop for 26 hours, and has been evaluated by DoD for a wide variety of defense applications over the last two years.

On episode 4 of season 6 of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, Fatema Hamdani, co-founder of Kraus Hamdani Aerospace, explains what the APFIT program is and how it will help the company scale production of its autonomous drone that also can be used as a flying cell tower.

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