Near Earth Autonomy and Kaman Air Vehicles, a division of Kaman Corporation (NYSE: KAMN), announced today that they have been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to demonstrate a resupply uncrewed aerial system (UAS) capable of moving loads with a minimum of 800 pounds and flying distances over 100 miles. This heavy-lift vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAS will take Soldiers out of harm’s way and supplement resupply trips through added uncrewed lift capacity.

The US Air Force’s AFWERX has chosen Near Earth Autonomy to collaborate on a reliability standard for autonomous aerial transport as part of the Autonomy Prime program. This collaboration will see Near Earth and AFWERX establish an accreditation process to formalize assurance for autonomous aircraft. Near Earth will also develop an architecture that enables high-reliability and supports Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA)-compliant interoperability, ensuring that autonomous aircraft can operate safely and efficiently.

The Association For Uncrewed Vehicle Systems (AUVSI) has selected Near Earth Autonomy as an Xcellence in Mission – Humanitarian Award Finalist, out of over 100 candidates. The AUVSI Xcellence Awards honor individuals and organizations that are innovators in the uncrewed systems industry, with a demonstrated commitment to advancing autonomy, leading and promoting safe adoption of uncrewed systems, and developing programs that use these technologies to save lives and improve the human condition.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council (PTC) has chosen Near Earth Autonomy (Near Earth) as the 2022  AI/ML/Robotics - Innovator of the Year.  Each year, the Pittsburgh Technology Council celebrates the most successful and innovative companies in Southwestern PA at their Tech 50 Awards event.  Winners were announced at the PTC’s 26th annual event with nearly 600 attendees to honor the leading technology companies in the Pittsburgh region.

Kaman Corporation (NYSE: KAMN) announced today that it has invested $10 million in Pittsburgh, PA based Near Earth Autonomy, Inc.  The investment by Kaman will allow Near Earth to accelerate its technology to establish an industry standard in autonomous solutions for the next generation of aviation.

Near Earth Autonomy and L3Harris Technologies have successfully demonstrated an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) capable of  autonomously delivering life-saving blood and other medical supplies hundreds of miles from operational  bases to medics in the field.

Tokyo, Japan-based Kajima Corporation, one of the world’s largest construction companies, has partnered with Pittsburgh, PA, USA-based Near Earth Autonomy to inspect GPS-denied environments.

Gur Kimchi, Co-Founder of Amazon’s drone delivery service Amazon Prime Air, has joined the Board of Directors at Near Earth Autonomy.  An industry leader who has helped shape modern autonomous aviation, Kimchi co-founded and led the development of Amazon’s autonomous drone delivery service program, where he served as Vice President from 2012 to 2020. Additionally, he was a member of the Federal Aviation Administration Drone Advisory Committee from 2016 to 2020.

Deployed service men and woman have persistent logistics challenges that are answered with this reliable, maintainable and affordable solution. The KARGO UAV will self-deploy with max lifting capacity of 800lbs. Near Earth will provide obstacle avoidance capabilities, precision landing, sense and avoid, and navigation in a GPS-denied environment.

As leaders in the eVTOL and autonomy industries respectively, Volocopter and Near Earth Autonomy will combine and apply their expertise to further autonomous urban air mobility (UAM). Together they plan to demonstrate their progress in a Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Capability Demonstration in Munich in 2022.

Alex Foessel, former Director of Technology and Innovation for John Deere, has joined Near Earth Autonomy as Senior Director, Market Strategy. With extensive experience developing and commercializing robotics solutions, Foessel will lead business and product strategy as Near Earth expands its technology across new industries and applications.

With support from NAVAIR, Near Earth Autonomy and Kaman Aerospace have partnered to develop an intelligent autonomy system for the K-MAX helicopter, a large-scale transport aircraft. The capability developed will be applicable to large aircraft that can take off and land vertically with a broad set of commercial and military applications.