FOUNDER and DIRECTOR
HEAD of DESIGN and ENGINEERING
Wal has occupied numerous senior roles in aviation engineering and has been the Managing Director of a CASA-accredited design organisation for more than 30 years. His experience of drone and UAS designs is extensive. Having developed a solid reputation as an design expert within the industry reputation Wal is producing designs which are practical, cost effective and specifically tailored to the current needs of the market.
Big Drone was formed by long-term business partners who recognised there were significant opportunities to present the market with lower-cost UAS products, without compromising the capabilities presented by current military-grade systems.
Our range of lower-cost products will be able to compete on the open market for many roles currently performed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Our UAVs will also be able to conduct operations not previously economically feasible for existing UASs or full-size aircraft.
Our priority has been to design aircraft that will perform those tasks that are better performed by UAVs to reduce the risk in exposing manned aircraft to hostile environments. Additionally, the costs in conducting certain tasks with conventional manned aircraft can be prohibitive, or wasteful, when compared to UAVs/UASs.
The Big Drone Team combines a huge and diverse experience of aviation, as a whole. We have the necessary skill-base to design and develop those UASs which will provide effective solutions for numerous functions within a simple design philosophy and realistic cost.
FOUNDER and DIRECTOR
CEO
Mic is an ex-Military and current Civil Experimental Test Pilot who has developed and certified a range of aircraft including GA, fast-jet and numerous large aircraft. He has held various executive management roles, recently as Airbus Head of Flight Operations and Safety for SE Asia. Responsibility for this position included operational safety and training standards during challenging post-COVID times. Mic holds various Instructor Ratings, Check and Flight Test approvals.
After much research we chose a tailless configuration aircraft to permit accessibility to discrete interchangeable mission pods from the rear of the aircraft.
The compact body and wings-only configuration permits folding of wings, without dismantling, for ease of transportation, storage and reassembly.
Essentially, mission-focus determined our overall design philosophy and few aircraft can boast a true multi-role capability like the Big Drone UAS.
Our entry into the UAS market is with a sub-150kg aircraft. This will enable us to develop our technology and credibility to enable us to design and develop larger aircraft requiring certification with National Aviation Authorities (NAAs)
We are looking for investment partnerships to bring the TUAS150 to the market.
We anticipate significant returns and we will provide opportunity for further involvement in the next, much larger, UAS that we plan to design, develop, and launch following the success of the TUAS150.