Drone Delivery Canada restarts heavy-lift drone contact
by CM staff
This contract could lead DDC to enter the Pathway to Commercialization which is a new program launched by Innovative Solutions Canada to speed up the rate at which Government of Canada departments can access tested and approved Canadian technologies.
DDC Condor Drone (CNW Group/Drone Delivery Canada Corp.)
TORONTO — Drone Delivery Canada Corp., has restarted the execution of the contract with the Canadian Government to operate and evaluate DDC’s proprietary drone delivery platform using DDC’s heavy-lift Condor remote piloted aircraft. The contract initially announced in March 2023, with a value up to approximately $1.2 million is with the Canadian government’s Innovative Solutions Canada program.
The company has prepared a second Condor to continue with the execution of the contract. The company has completed the investigation of the incident with the first Condor and has made the required adjustments and improvements to the second Condor to improve overall reliability and flight performance.
Under the terms of the Contract, DDC will restart the operation, testing, and evaluation of the capabilities of the Condor drone solution. The contract consists of 3 phases:
- Short range flights
- Long range endurance flights
- Extreme environmental testing
The multi-package payload compartment of the Condor is designed to carry approximately 20 cubic feet of cargo. The Condor measures 22 feet long, five feet wide and seven feet tall. It has a rotor diameter of approximately 20 feet and is capable of vertical takeoff and landing. The Condor is equipped with the company’s proprietary FLYTE management system which is the same platform used in all the Company’s cargo delivery drones. The turnkey solution is expected to be marketed in a managed service SaaS business model in Canada and potentially as a licensed managed service internationally, subject to applicable regulation.
“We are excited to restart the execution of the ISC contract. We look forward to once again displaying the full capabilities of the improved Condor and to potentially offer the Condor platform to all interested government of Canada parties” said Steve Magirias, CEO of DDC. “The DDC team has worked diligently to make the necessary improvements to the Condor in order to restart the execution of this important contract for DDC.”
This contract could lead DDC to enter the Pathway to Commercialization which is a new program launched by Innovative Solutions Canada to speed up the rate at which Government of Canada departments can access tested and approved Canadian technologies and services for their own use. Once in the Pathway to Commercialization, the program allows any Canadian government entity to purchase an unlimited number of Condor contracts with an individual contract value up to $8 million.
