Volatus Aerospace is to begin the manufacture of up to 1,200 units of the innovative FIXAR VTOL drone per year at its new facility at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport in Oro, Ontario.

Volatus' contribution to the venture, including in-Canada production site set-up, business development and technical support is estimated to total approximately $1 million.

Recently approved for flight by Transport Canada; this hybrid UAV is capable of transitioning between vertical and forward flight, taking advantage of the lifting power of an airfoil to fly forward with greater efficiency than a quadcopter or fixed-wing drones.

"The clue is in its name," comments Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus Aerospace, "FIXAR stands for Fixed Angle Rotors. That means the position of the motors does not change when the aircraft transitions. It's a patented design and allows the aircraft to seamlessly transition between vertical and forward flight. The increased range of the unit can be really useful when you want to inspect something longer – like a pipeline or road, for example."

In choosing Volatus Aerospace as its North American partner; Yulia Druzhnikova, FIXAR Director of Global Expansion said "Volatus Aerospace offers everything that we require in a strategic partner. They are opening a first-class manufacture centre; they have depth of expertise for advanced and BVLOS pilot and operational training; they offer distribution coast-to-coast in Canada and have recently opened operations in the USA."

While demonstration flights and product are available immediately, the first of the product line to be manufactured in North America is the FIXAR 007. This configuration, in conjunction with its two-kilogram (4.4 lb) payload capacity and swappable payload module, makes the UAV ideal for a multitude of applications including mapping/photogrammetry, laser scanning (LiDAR), last-mile delivery, precision agriculture, critical infrastructure monitoring and more.