Tel Aviv: Israeli company ParaZero, developer of safety systems for drones, is a major player in the fast growing market of drones for defence, security and civil applications.
In the past year, ParaZero has deployed itself in a big way internationally. The company has worked with regulators around the world, contributing to the development of worldwide safety standards and enabling advanced operations for vehicles ranging from small unmanned aircraft systems to large electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. It has forged partnerships in more than 70 countries, including India, South Korea, the United States, and several across Latin America and eastern Europe. An around-the-world look at its latest developments illustrate how ParaZero continues to lift the drone and advanced air mobility industry by increasing safety for bystanders while protecting the loss of aircraft, equipment and payloads.
The journey began a year ago, when in September 2020, Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency awarded the first regulatory approval for drone delivery operations to Speedbird Aero. ParaZero’s SafeAir system, live-tested six times over the course of a year, factored significantly into regulators’ safety and risk assessment and Speedbird’s ultimate BVLOS certification. SafeAir applies real-time data analytics to identify and mitigate flight risks autonomously, cuts power, deploys a parachute, sounds an alarm, lands the drone safely and provides analytics post-incident. Using this system, Speedbird now regularly offers on-demand multimodal delivery services in partnership with multiple food companies.
Additionally, since 2019 more than 125 ParaZero customers, including large corporations, public safety agencies and service providers have been granted US Federal Aviation Administration waivers for operations over people, opening the door and supporting the industry with expanded legal flight envelopes, which enables advanced use cases and flight operations.
In March 2021, when ParaZero successfully demonstrated that the military could safely fit and transport its Hexa electric eVTOL vehicle in a C-130J Combat King II, using an integrated ParaZero autonomous ballistic parachute system for multicopters. This propelled the Hexa down the path to Air Force airworthiness certification as part of the US Air Force AFWERX Agility Prime effort.
Around the same time, and on the heels of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s effective date of new operations over people (OOP), ParaZero’s safety system helped researchers at Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP), College of Engineering, and State Farm prove the minimal risk drones present to moving vehicles when operated at speeds at 62 miles per hour or less. This first direct research on drone-automobile collisions provided foundational information for future OOP means of compliance to support additional advanced operations.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, Doosan, an award-winning drone manufacturer, announced it had integrated ParaZero safety systems into its DS30 Hydrogen Fuel Cell UAS. This 54lb/24.9kg endurance drone, capable of carrying a 11lb/5kg payload, can fly more than two hours. During the pandemic, the company delivered critical supplies to outlying island residents, enabled by SafeAir™ on-board.
Four months later, in July 2021, ParaZero partnered with leading fleet management and Command and Control (C2) provider Blue White Robotics and Easy Aerial, manufacturer of fully autonomous, drone-in-a-box solutions to provide end-to-end autonomous public safety solutions. The collaboration presented first responders with a military-grade autonomous drone and C2 platform for operations and management that incorporated ParaZero safety systems. This combination provides remote real-time situational awareness, crucial to 24-hour beyond visual line of sight applications including search and rescue, stand-off surveillance and fire monitoring, among others.
Almost a year after its success in Brazil, in September 2021, ParaZero made its mark in India when it announced an exclusive partnership with Paras Aerospace. The arrangement permitted Paras Aerospace, an Indian-based company, specializing in a wide range of development, integration, manufacturing and certification of unmanned aerial vehicle systems, to provide ASTM-certified (F3322-18) parachute systems to the Indian market. This news came on the heels of India’s New Rules for drones, which generally liberalized their use across the country.
Closer to home, ParaZero also helped bring several ‘firsts’ to fruition in Israel. Working with Simplex C2 – Unmanned Solutions and its advanced cloud native FlightOps drone operating system, ParaZero’s systems supported Israel’s first certified urban and BVLOS drone delivery. Since then, Simplex has been carrying out medical deliveries using drones inside hospital complexes, and between hospitals and nearby urban centres.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
