Evergreen Unmanned Systems

Add Feedback

Share |

Evergreen Unmanned Systems is a division of Oregon's Evergreen Helicopters, Inc. The company makes Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs, which offer video mapping of terrain and a brush fire's direction. The acquisition of information is used to support ground crews and heavier aircraft during wildfires.

Brian Whiteside with Evergreen Unmanned Systems says, "This is one of many UAVs that are out there in the world, but this is one that's probably the most widely used currently. It's in the theater in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has over 150,000 hours on their air frame. So it's something the industry is familiar with and its capabilities are familiar with."

As far as its strengths for firefighting, Whiteside says, "You can throw this thing in the air for over 20 hours on 5.4 kilograms of fuel." Any information is beamed back to Evergreen's computer system and can be placed on the internet in real time. Crew can be seen and located on the ground and information sent to them to let them know where a fire is. The system works up to 60 nautical miles.

Whiteside says that with smaller budgets, governments and the military are more interested in hiring services, rather than attempting to buy an entire Unmanned Aircraft System, UAS. It's cheaper to contract a service, and services also update their technology whenever it changes, since they do not have to worry about acquisition cycles.

The Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, is strict with its restrictions, however. Although Whiteside says their conservatism is a good thing, he also hopes they will lift some restrictions and allow Evergreen to help the fire industry.


Author:Bill Lorin - FDNNTV.com