Nordic Unmanned starts operations with the Textron Aerosonde in Europe

The delivery of the first Textron Aerosonde Mk 4.7 will increase Nordic Unmanned’s capability of conducting long-range Beyond Visual Line of Sign (BVLOS) general surveillance operations significantly by adding longer range, longer endurance, new sensor capabilities and increased capacity. The system will be under framework contract with a client for up to the next four years and will be used for maritime operations under a mission profile that could be ramped up to 24/7 operations with a range of up to 1000 km and 11 hours endurance. Nordic Unmanned becomes the first operator in Europe to include such a capability in its fleet of LUC (Light Unmanned Operator Certificate) approved drones.

Reference is also made to Nordic Unmanned’s announcement on the 21st of October 2021 and previous announcements regarding the award of the EMSA/OP/46/2020 contract, which concerns fixed wing RPAS (drone) services carrying out long-range general maritime surveillance, and the acquirement of two Textron Systems' Aerosonde systems.

Nordic Unmanned will during Q1 progress to achieve full operational capability (FOC) on the Aerosonde system. This initial period also includes client flights, in-house training of our next crew of pilots and technicians, and the availability to demo our new capability to future potential clients in Europe. Nordic Unmanned is in parallel preparing for the first deployment that will commence in Q2 2022 in a European country. Nordic Unmanned’s second Aerosonde system will be delivered in Q2 2022.

Knut Roar Wiig, CEO at Nordic Unmanned, said: “Again we have successfully achieved another millstone in the buildup of our capability. This is fully aligned with our previous communicated investment plan and is backing our steep growth plan for 2022. The Aerosonde Mk 4.7 has a long operational history with more than 550 000 flight hours. We are the first civilian operator to put this world-leading tactical drone system into use in Europe and one of the few global operators to have this capability in operation.”

This first Aerosonde system consists of two drones. They are named GRO (LN-0310-UA) and JAN (LN-0310-UB). Nordic Unmanned have chosen Norwegian prime ministers in the naming of its fleet of large drones. 

The information provided in this stock exchange release was submitted for publication, contact persons set out below, at 09:32 CET on the 24th of January 2022.