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Quickstep has announced it will manufacture components for Australian firm Carbonix’s hybrid surveillance drone Volanti.
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The two companies said the deal is the foundation of a partnership that will, in future, extend to all of Carbonix’s unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Last year, Carbonix raised $6.3 million in late seed funding to expand its services into North America — with Quickstep a $1 million investor.
The new deal, announced on Thursday, will see components for the Volanti manufactured at Quickstep’s Geelong facility, allowing Carbonix to initially fulfil an order from defence technology start-up Anduril.
Anduril recently won a US$1 billion counter-drone contract from the US Special Operations Command.
Volanti is an electric, fixed-wing drone that can fly at speed horizontally but take-off vertically, conducting aerial surveys across difficult terrain. It has a two-hour flight time and 1-kilogram payload limit.
Carbonix CEO Philip van der Burg said, “With state-of-the-art facilities in New South Wales and Victoria, Carbonix is thrilled to be partnering with Quickstep and their highly trained and enthusiastic workforce, renowned for their innovative approach.”
It comes months after Quickstep agreed a landmark deal with Defence to try and identify the materials necessary to build the next generation of hypersonic weapons and aircraft.
While hypersonic tech — defined as flying at least five times the speed of sound — is nothing new, countries are currently in an arms race to develop the next generation of missiles that are so manoeuvrable in mid-air, they can’t be intercepted or detected.
However, when objects fly so quickly, the friction created can increase temperatures to more than 1,000 degrees.
Quickstep will work with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) on the “Hype-X” project to identify and test materials that can survive extreme conditions.
Initially, the research will focus on the applicability of existing materials before exploring novel materials and manufacturing processes to fill capability gaps.
Quickstep also recently announced that it was joining the Greenbird air taxi consortium, while last year it partnered with drone logistics company Swoop Aero.
[Related: Quickstep selected as manufacturing partner for European drone developer ]
