Australian-based aerospace composites manufacturer Quickstep has signed an exclusive manufacturing and engineering integration agreement for the TB2 Pod Interface system.
The system provides an autonomous means of connecting a range of podded solutions to drones and is designed to work on any UAS capable of accepting the TB2 system.
“We have taken a logistics-at-scale approach to all aspects of our systems’ development, so when we started to look for a partner with the ability to design, mass produce and scale our system in various sizes for various industries it was a simple choice," said Hank Scott, founder of TB2.
"Quicksteps’ ability to integrate our hardware, our vendors avionics and our partners UAV’s is crucial to streamlining our future plans.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Quickstep will provide an initial $500,000 of engineering and structural integration services for the incorporation of the TB2 interface to customer aircraft, and will assist TB2 with the design, integration, supplier management and servicing of podded solutions.
“Like TB2, we believe there is a substantial market for standardised podded capabilities across a range of commercial and defence applications," said Steve Osborne, Vice President Quickstep USA.
"The ability to provide ‘capability in a box’ and other services, utilising a common system that requires minimal human intervention, addresses a real challenge in the Drone sector.”
Work will be carried out at Quickstep’s facilities in Geelong, Victoria, and in Wichita, Kansas once that site becomes operational.