Benzinga | Nov 10, 2020 08:33AM EST

AgEagle Aerial Systems Selected To Participate In The Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (IPP) In State Of Kansas

WICHITA, Kan., Nov. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. (NYSE:UAVS), an industry leading provider of unmanned aerial vehicles and advanced aerial imagery, data collection and analytics technologies, today announced its selection as an industry partner in the next phase of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (U.S. DOT) Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (IPP), the BEYOND program.



The original IPP was launched through a Presidential Memorandum in October 2017 with nine regional participants. The IPP participants and their industry partners used innovative strategies to craft successful safety cases to operate under the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) existing regulations. On October 30, 2020, the U.S. DOT announced that the three-year IPP successfully concluded on October 25, 2020. In the release, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios noted, "The IPP propelled the American drone industry forward, allowing for unprecedented expansions in testing and operations through innovative private-public partnerships across the country. Now, the BEYOND program will build upon this success, tackling the next big challenges facing drone integration."

Eight of the nine state, local and tribal governments that participated in the original program have signed new agreements with the FAA to participate in the BEYOND program, including the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT). AgEagle has been selected by KDOT to serve as an industry partner in the BEYOND program to help solve key challenges including:

* Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations that are repeatable, scalable and economically viable with specific emphasis on infrastructure inspection, public operations and small package delivery;

* Leveraging industry operations to better analyze and quantify the societal and economic benefits of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operations; and

* Focusing on community engagement efforts to collect, analyze and address community concerns.

Commenting on AgEagle's involvement with the FAA BEYOND program, Company CEO Michael Drozd stated, "We are very pleased that AgEagle will be contributing to the advancement of unmanned aerial systems technology in real-world applications, which should ultimately lead to the streamlining of approval processes for UAS integration into the national airspace system. We believe that our experience and expertise in drone manufacturing, drone delivery systems integration and aerial imaging-based data collection and analytics will prove invaluable as we work in close collaboration with KDOT, universities and other public and private partners involved with the BEYOND program to realize the full and very promising potential of commercial drones."