SNC buys drone firm Volansi, will produce new systems in house

The Voly T UAV design, which will now be produced by SNC. (SNC)

AUSA 2022 — Sierra Nevada Corp. plans to begin producing its own in-house drones, having absorbed the intellectual property and production capacity of drone startup Volansi.

Production of the Voly 50 and Voly T drone designs represents the first time SNC has served as an original equipment manufacturer for aircraft. The company, which is privately held, is largely known for modifying or integrating sensors onto existing platforms.

Volansi attracted attention in the defense sector when it hired former Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper to its board of directors; several months later in July 2021, Roper became CEO. However, the company lost its venture funding earlier this year and was effectively bankrupt, Tim Owings, executive vice president for SNC’s Mission Solutions and Technologies unit, told reporters today.

SNC was already partnered with Volansi to compete with the Voly T on the Army Future Tactical Unmanned Systems Increment 2 (FTUAS) effort. When the startup folded up operations, it became logical for SNC to continue to try and win the FTUAS program by working off the existing design, Owings said. It took about two months for the cash purchase, the cost of which Owings characterized as being “significantly less” than other drone startup sales.

In addition to the IP, SNC has also acquired Volansi’s production facility in Bend, Ore., as well as about 30 technically focused personnel. Neither Roper nor Volansi’s founder, Hannan Parvizian, will be joining SNC, Owings confirmed.

In a press release, SNC said that “utilizing the Voly 50 series design as the foundation, SNC’s VTOL offering has a small operational footprint and can easily operate in difficult terrain and contested spaces for tactical resupply missions. It is built for endurance, with the ability to handle heavy payloads, while a turnkey ISR system gives users the ability to see, track and understand the battlespace more completely.”

SNC plans to honor existing contracts for the Voly 50, a smaller, cargo-focused system, but is focused more on the Voly T design, which Owings said fills a gap between the very small UAVs and systems the size of a Reaper. (The product will be rebranded with a new name soon, he added.) Owings cast the Voly T as being able to carry multiple sensors that fit into the Army’s MDO concept.

In addition to the FTUAS effort, SNC hopes to pitch the rebranded Voly T for the US Navy and for the United Kingdom.