Parrot Selected by the US Defense Innovation Unit as a Major Drone Supplier for the US Government’s Most Demanding Missions

The inclusion of dedicated ANAFI USA systems in the GSA schedule for the U.S. Army and government operations is a testament to the exceptional security and performance of Parrot’s proven experience in the drone industry

Parrot, the leading European drone group, is pleased to announce its selection in the Blue sUAS program by the U.S. Army and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). The DIU is a Department of Defense organization that accelerates commercial technology for national defense.

The Blue sUAS program is a spin-off of the Short-Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program launched by the Army and DIU in April 2019. The Blue sUAS drone development effort was organized in response to increased government-wide demand for secure and ultraportable drones that could be used for a variety of military and federal applications.

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Blue sUAS: A robust and trusted domestic UAS industrial base for the U.S. Army

Parrot is currently one of two finalists of the SRR project, with delivery of a production-ready SRR drone scheduled by the end of 2020. Parrot’s work for the SRR project confirmed to the DIU that the company is capable of meeting the outstanding and proven security, performance, scalability and ease-of-use requirements in its initial solutions designed for the U.S. Army.

Following the initial phases of the SRR program, the DIU launched the Blue sUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems) effort to address high demand for trusted, secure, ultraportable, rapidly deployable, inexpensive and U.S.-manufactured drones for deployment in U.S. military, federal agencies and government operations.

Both the SRR and Blue sUAS programs comply with Section 848 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which prohibits operating or procuring unmanned aircraft systems manufactured in China.

Parrot has been selected once more by the DIU as one of the five participants in the Blue sUAS program. Parrot was invited to present its solutions on August 19, 2020.

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At this virtual event, Parrot revealed two new high-performance tactical reconnaissance drones: ANAFI USA MIL for military forces, and ANAFI USA GOV for government and federal agencies.

With an incomparable 10 years’ experience developing micro drones for the commercial and consumer markets – during which time Parrot has produced over 4.5 million drones – Parrot is the most established and serious drone technology company in the Blue sUAS program. The proven ANAFI platform has evolved through two years of extensive continuous development, improvement, and real-world use in the field.

The dedicated and approved systems built for military, government and federal agencies

ANAFI USA MIL and ANAFI USA GOV are the result of Parrot’s work over the past 18 months for the SRR and Blue sUAS programs. Manufactured in the U.S., both drones offer a powerful stabilized 32x zoom, FLIR thermal imaging, 4K HDR video, and exceptional data encryption and privacy features.

Easy to fly, fast to deploy, and offering impossibly quiet operations, both drones offer core features complementary to those of Parrot’s ANAFI USA drone, which was announced in June 2020 for enterprise, public safety, first responders and inspection professionals.

Building onto the ANAFI USA platform, ANAFI USA MIL and ANAFI USA GOV provide additional special features that were engineered to meet the needs of U.S. military forces, and U.S. government and federal agencies. Both drones are fully compliant with the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Parrot’s legacy of security excellence was a key enabler for ANAFI USA MIL and ANAFI USA GOV to meet the rigorous requirements of the U.S. Army and DIU. Both drones have achieved Authority to Operate (ATO) status by the DoD after passing comprehensive cybersecurity validation testing.

The ANAFI USA MIL and ANAFI USA GOV drones offer outstanding security at their core. Both models use an AES-XTS algorithm with a 512-bit key length to encrypt all data saved to the drone’s SD card. An encryption key is required to read all data captured by the drone, protecting sensitive data if the drone falls into the wrong hands.

ANAFI USA MIL and ANAFI USA GOV use a secure WPA2 Wi-Fi connection to authenticate and encrypt all communications between the controller and the drone. With ANAFI USA MIL, pilots also benefit from an AES 256-bit encrypted radio communication system (Microhard) between the drone and its controller: drone operators are able to use the U.S. Army’s TOGA GCS controller with ANAFI USA MIL or the included dedicated Skycontroller USA.

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Streamlined procurement through the GSA schedule

Due to their highly specialized and dedicated features, ANAFI USA MIL and ANAFI USA GOV will have the honor of being included in the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule starting in September 2020 to facilitate ease of procurement and ensuring a secure supply chain for all US militaries, government departments and federal agencies.

The inclusion of ANAFI USA GOV and ANAFI USA in the GSA schedule is a testament to their exceptional security and performance, as products offered through the GSA must meet strict criteria for reliability, quality control, and regulatory compliance, including the ATO waiver exemption.

U.S. Department of Defense entities can also pursue a production contract via Other Transaction Authority, leveraging the scaling option of DIU’s Commercial Solution Opening.

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