eBee TAC First Approved Drone Added to DIU Blue sUAS “Cleared List”

Miriam McNabb

3 years ago

eBee TAC Blue sUAS 2.0 SenseFly’s eBee TAC on DIU Blue sUAS 2.0 “Cleared List”

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

AgEagle subsidiary senseFly recently became one of the first eleven vendors to complete the necessary testing, evaluations and demonstration process to be designated a Blue UAS under the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue sUAS 2.0. senseFly’s NDAA-compliant eBee TAC Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) has received approval by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) for use by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

“The first approved drone to be added to the DIU Blue UAS Cleared List as part of Blue sUAS 2.0 is the eBee TAC by senseFly, an AgEagle company,” stated an announcement released by the DIU. “Systems added to this list do not require a DoD exception to policy to procure or operate as they have undergone a cyber-security evaluation, a policy compliance check, and were issued the necessary administrative documentation. Federal government partners can also leverage this effort for their programmatic needs without duplicating efforts.”

The eBee COC completed an evaluation process in association with Blue sUAS 2.0 that provided DIU with necessary information regarding the drone systems’ capabilities and NDAA compliance. Based on the evaluation, the eBee TAC was designated as an approved light-weight, medium-range UAS available to the DoD that does not require a waiver to operate, also made available to the Federal Government. This recent success is the latest in a four-year legacy of eBee’s deployment by the DOD as an important asset for units both conventional and unconventional.

According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the eBee line of drones has been the top selling commercial fixed wing UAS in the US over the past three years. Specially designed for use in government and military mapping and mission planning operations, the eBee COC functions in isolated environments, offering a more accurate mobile solution to map and locally share aerial imagery data on fluctuating field conditions to analyze and provide near real-time situational awareness to ground forces. The eBee MAC can be rapidly deployed in only three minutes by a single user to generate 3D modeling, terrain and thermal maps. It features a lightweight, 3.5 pound body with a digital camouflage skin and silent mission mode for increased stealth and can reach up to 90 minutes of flight time.

Each system consists of an NDAA compliant drone, sensors and active components, Blue sUAS registration, secure extension, Endurance activation, two Endurance batteries, one Pitot Pro-kit, two micro SD cards with adapters, AES256-bit encryption, pixel camouflage and an IP67 hard transport case with STANAG military standard certification that is lightweight, rugged and dust and water resistant.

The system is available for purchase by U.S. government agencies and military branches as either a standalone solution or as part of the Aerial Reconnaissance Tactical Edge Mapping Imagery System (ARTEMIS), which integrates Hexagon US Federal’s Google Earth Enterprise Platform (GEEP) equipped laptops, featuring custom globes of mission Areas-of-Interest (AOIs) built from satellite imagery and other geospatial intelligence, forming the backdrop for the eBee MAC-collected imagery.

“Hexagon US Federal has long been committed to supporting the warfighter and public safety professionals through innovative solutions such as ARTEMIS,” said Hexagon US Federal CEO and President Tammer Olibah. “ARTEMIS has great potential to improve mission effectiveness in a variety of terrains, and DIU approval of the eBee COC is a significant step in making ARTEMIS available to an even wider US Government audience.”

“The eBee TAC is ideally positioned to become an in-demand, mission critical tool for the U.S. military, government and civil agencies and our allies worldwide,” said AgEagle Chairman and CEO Barrett Mooney. “We expect this to be a major growth catalyst for AgEagle in 2022, positively impacting our financial performance in the years ahead as AgEagle solidifies itself as the go-to source for high performing, state-of-the-art full stack drone solutions that get the job done.”