Fortem Technologies Raises $5.5 fro Drone Air Defense System

Fortem Technologies, Inc. announced the close of a $5.5M investment round led by Signia Venture Partners and Data Collective (DCVC). Fortem Technologies, Inc., out of Provo, Utah, provides advanced radar systems and associated software systems for manned and unmanned aircraft as well as its own modern air defense system known as the Fortem DroneHunter.

The Fortem TrueView Radar model DAA-R20 enables companies to use drones to provide safe and cost-effective package delivery services, large infrastructure inspections, border patrols, etc. Also human pilots of general aviation aircraft and helicopters can fly safely in a more crowded airspace with TrueView Radar.

“Last year, Fortem successfully adapted a radar technology used in the US Department of Defense drone program over the last 6 years,” said Timothy Bean, CEO of Fortem, “The result is TrueView Radar for use in the commercial drone market; it’s a proven, complete and safe technology. The performance, size, cost, and power consumption of the TrueView Radar is unmatched in the industry.”

“Fortem’s innovative design – and the battle tested trade secrets created in the crucible of real world deployments — is here today to support a wide range of new commercial drone applications,” said Ed Cluss, Partner at Signia Venture Partners and Fortem board member. “I’ve worked with Tim in the past and am very optimistic what he and the Fortem team will continue to accomplish under his leadership.”

The Fortem DroneHunter is an unmanned aircraft that uses the TrueView Radar, machine learning, specialized guidance systems, and an open command & control system — all built by Fortem — to autonomously fly toward unwanted drones in the sky — without a human pilot on the ground – and detect, track, classify, monitor via video stream, inspect, and safely capture the intruder drone at a safe distance from the protected area. Fortem’s DroneHunter is a counter-drone system that operates beyond line of sight (BLOS) using radar to protect a perimeter day and night from unwanted air threats. Fortem DroneHunter is available for evaluation.

“Fortem is delivering proven capabilities to US civilian security professionals and military leaders that were the stuff of science fiction just ten years ago”, said Matt Ocko, DCVC’s Managing Partner and Fortem board member. “What attracted us was Fortem’s use of AI and novel signal processing algorithms to deliver similar capability to building-sized radars – and the beyond-line-of-sight coordination of entire fleets of drones – in the size of a couple of hard-back books, all consuming less power than a light bulb.”

Fortem Technologies is exhibiting the Fortem TrueView Radar and the new Fortem DroneHunter product during AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2017 in Dallas on May 8 through May 11. You can visit them at Booth 2857.

Here is a promotional video courtesy of Fortem Technologies.