Vertical
Drones and unmanned systems
The most heavily regulated category in the portfolio, in the country of origin and in the country of destination. Also the one least forgiving of a delivery date promised casually.
Market for defence unmanned aerial vehicles, scope South America, per Mordor Intelligence. It covers NATO Class I, under 150 kg, with military and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications. It does not measure the commercial drone market, which is a separate segment and for which we publish no figure because we have no citable source. Public figure compiled in 2026. This is market context, not this company's results.
Endurance
Catalogue endurance is not mission endurance
The endurance a manufacturer publishes is measured in the most favourable condition: with no payload or the minimum, at low altitude, with no wind and on a new battery. The real mission has none of those four.
Payload comes out of the mass budget and is paid for in flight time. A gyro-stabilised electro-optical and thermal turret, the data link and any additional emitter all compete with the battery for the same mass. The right question is not how long the aircraft flies, but how long it flies with the payload the mission requires and with the reserve the procedure obliges it to keep for the return leg.
Altitude is the factor most often underestimated in this region. Many Andean cities and operations sit far above sea level, and thinner air reduces the lift a rotor produces. The same multirotor that completes a mission on the coast does not complete it on the highlands, with the same payload and the same battery. A fixed-wing system feels that effect less, but it needs a runway or a launcher and cannot hold station over a point.
And there is a service-life factor that changes total cost: the battery is a consumable with a counted number of cycles. An intensive flight programme consumes batteries at a rate that has to be budgeted from day one, along with the transport of those batteries, which carries restrictions of its own.
Platform and payload
The platform follows from the mission, not from the catalogue
Three architectures, three different missions. The multirotor takes off vertically and holds station over a point: it suits spot inspection and covering an event, and pays for that capability in endurance. Fixed wing covers distance and stays airborne far longer: it suits patrolling a pipeline, a road or an extended perimeter, and cannot stand still. The hybrid, with vertical take-off and wing-borne cruise, combines both at the cost of mechanical complexity and maintenance.
The distance at which a target can be recognised is set by the payload, not by the flight range. An aircraft that reaches fifty kilometres carrying optics that only detect at two does not complete the mission: it arrives and sees nothing. Sensor, turret stabilisation and usable zoom are specified against the same coverage criterion used in video surveillance, applied at slant range and with the platform in motion, which is considerably more demanding.
The link has two ranges, control and video, and they rarely coincide. Video drops first. The behaviour on link loss has to be specified: automatic return, hold in position or continuation of the programmed route, and under which condition each is triggered. If it is not written down, the factory firmware decides it.
Degraded navigation is a requirement, not an extra. Satellite signal jamming and spoofing are documented facts in real operating areas, and a system that navigates only by satellite becomes useless or, worse, misdirected. Inertial and visual navigation as a fallback change the price of the equipment and are the difference between a demonstration platform and an operational one.
What has to be settled
Two permissions that govern the timeline, and neither is ours to grant
We put this here rather than in small print because it changes the real timeline of a project, and because a representative who does not know it creates a problem for its manufacturer.
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Flight authorisation
Operating an unmanned aircraft is governed by each country's civil aviation authority. Aircraft registration, operator certification and operating authorisation are preconditions, and flight beyond visual line of sight, night flight and flight over populated areas are authorised separately. The timelines are set by the authority, not by the supplier.
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Export control at origin
For Israeli-origin product, the Defense Export Control Law and the DECA agency require marketing and export licences, and that obligation reaches the agent conducting the negotiation, not only the manufacturer. It applies before the product is offered or any memorandum is signed, and there is documented precedent of enforcement. Other countries of origin have their own regimes, and the question is asked before the first meeting.
There is a third restriction that appears the moment the word counter-drone is mentioned. Detecting an unmanned aircraft by radio frequency, radar or electro-optical observation is one thing. Neutralising it by interfering with the spectrum is another, reserved to specific authorities and regulated separately by each country's spectrum administration. A project that merges the two into one tender line gets stuck, and they are better separated from the first draft of the document.
Where a portfolio category carries either requirement, the licence status will be stated as it stands. We do not offer licensed product before holding the licence.
Portfolio
What we specify and integrate
Observation and reconnaissance platforms
Multirotor, fixed wing and vertical take-off hybrid, chosen by mission profile: station-keeping over a point, extended patrol, or deployment with no runway. The choice is justified in writing against the mission rather than by comparing datasheets.
Electro-optical and thermal payloads
Gyro-stabilised turret with day and thermal sensors, range finding and designation where the mission requires it. Specified by effective recognition distance on the target, not by the aircraft's flight range.
Ground control station and link
Ground station, encrypted control and video links, and defined behaviour on link loss. It includes integrating the video into the control room the customer already operates, which is usually the requirement nobody wrote down.
Perimeter surveillance with air support
An aircraft deployed on event from a perimeter detection, to verify before moving personnel. It cuts trips made on false alarms, and requires ground and airborne detection to share one control room.
Unmanned aircraft detection
Detection by radio frequency, radar and electro-optical observation, with classification and integration into the control room. Detection is one category; neutralisation is another, is reserved, and is handled separately.
Training and operating procedure
Operator certification, flight procedure, pre-flight checklist, maintenance plan and consumables management. An unmanned system with no written procedure flies until the first incident.
How we work
How we enter an unmanned systems project
- Mission definition What has to be observed, at what distance, for how long, how often, and in what wind and altitude conditions. Without that, no platform can be justified.
- Early regulatory check Which flight authorisations the operation requires, whether the product is subject to export or marketing licensing at origin, and what timelines each authority sets. Done before quoting, because it governs the delivery date.
- Platform and payload sizing Mass budget, endurance with the real payload and at the site altitude, link range and return reserve. The platform and the number of aircraft follow from that, not the other way round.
- Integration with what already runs Video and telemetry inside the existing control room, coordinated with perimeter detection and fixed video. An aircraft visible only on its own console never enters the operator's procedure.
- Training, procedure and support Operator certification, written procedure, consumable spares and escalation to the manufacturer. This is the part that decides whether the system is still flying the following year.
Defence sector · Police and public safety · Mining · Energy and pipelines · Ports and critical infrastructure