Botlink Delivers Drones to US Army in Africa

After nearly a year of development and engineering, Botlink has delivered the first round of drones to the US Army in Africa.

Fargo, ND (November 6, 2019) - Botlink, a drone technology company, just returned from Italy where it delivered the first set of custom-engineered drones, sensor payloads, and software for the US Army in Africa. 

Operating from Vicenza, Italy, the US Army Africa Command (AFRICOM) serves a wide variety of missions on the continent. Botlink is delivering both a fixed-wing UAS with a portable, long-range base station, and a heavy-payload octocopter. The drones will be tasked with missions such as route condition reconnaissance, air-pollution monitoring, and LIDAR surveying. It was required that each drone be transportable by two soldiers, setup quickly, and include simple navigation software that can control both the fixed wing and multirotor UAS.

“Both of the drone solutions that we are supplying AFRICOM are custom-designed by the Botlink team,” said Terri Zimmerman, CEO of Botlink. “Off-the-shelf drones can’t accomplish the missions these UASs are flying in Africa. Botlink has a long history of taking on the biggest challenges, and creating world-class technology in the drone market.”

The Botlink team delivered the first round of drones to the AFRICOM team in Italy, and spent the week training them on how to use the technology, including custom-designed Botlink Capture, which is Botlink’s mission planning flight software.

Both of the drones were designed and tested by the Botlink team in Fargo. “Testing the fixed-wing drone created some interesting challenges. The aircraft needed to be able to operate 25km out for the US Army, but flying a drone beyond-visual-line-of-site isn’t legal in the US without a waiver. In early testing, the team actually left the base radio station against a window on the 15th floor of the Radison downtown, drove South into the country, and tested the UAS with multiple, simultaneous ground stations, including a radio signal emanating from downtown Fargo,” said Zimmerman.

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About Botlink
Botlink was founded in Fargo, N.D. with military pilots and engineers with the intent to safely share the benefits of drones. Botlink is a drone software and hardware development company, that leads the market in LTE communication technology. Botlink also provides automated drone control and safety features allowing operators to remain safe and compliant with complex flight regulations. For more information visit: https://botlink.com/

Media Contact:
Matt Sather - Director of Sales
matt.sather@botlink.com