Government UAS partner enters commercial market

The commercial marketplace for unmanned aircraft systems remains relatively untapped in the U.S., and at this point the holdup is more regulatory than technological. However, as the Congressional deadline for integrating UAS into the National Airspace System approaches, companies are betting that will change very quickly.

One such company — Modern Technology Solutions Inc., which has been active in the government-related UAS domain — yesterday reported plans to expand its UAS services into the commercial UAS marketplace, both in the U.S. and internationally. By way of explanation, the company cited estimates by various sources that the emerging market could be worth $10 billion within three years.

MTSI knows a little something about the pending NAS integration, having spent more spent more than a decade working on policy, regulatory, technical and operational challenges associated with the transition. It was behind several documents well known within the unmanned systems community, including the DoD’s “Unmanned Systems Roadmap” and “UAS Airspace Integration Roadmap” as well as the Federal UAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee’s “Implementation Plan for Integration of Civil UAS in the NAS.” The company has worked with agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, NASA and the intelligence community.

In the commercial and civil UAS marketplace, MTSI says its services will include:

• Commercial Photogrammetry for Precision Agriculture, Oil and Gas, and other industries
• Requirements Analysis, CONOPS, and Acquisition Support for Public Safety and First Responders
• Guidance for evolving Federal, State, and Local UAS regulations, including Privacy issues
• Guidance and technical support for Small UAS Airworthiness
• Guidance for customer Independent Research & Development (IR&D)
• Modeling & Simulation and Operational Analysis of UAS concepts, including SAA concepts
• Business Case Analysis for Commercial Operations
• Small UAS Training and System Safety
• Turn-Key Flight Test and Demonstrations

More information on MTSI and what the company does is available through its official website.

[ image courtesy of Modern Technology Solutions ]