Chapter 791 Sentinel Company

"Welcome to Sentinel Company, Your Highness the Duke."

After Barron appeased Ivanta, he left New York and took the Devonshire to Tucson, Arizona. The Cavendish Trust had just purchased the small drone project from BAE Systems. Located right here.

Arizona borders California to the west, close to the west coast of the United States, and Mexico to the south - well, Arizona is also one of the several states that the United States took from Mexico.

What greets Barron here is Matthew Blott, who has resigned from BAE Systems. After the acquisition, the small UAV project here will be renamed Sentinel Company, and Matthew Blott will serve as As the CEO of Sentinel, he is responsible for leading these companies to continue the development of small drones.

It can be seen that Matthew Blott moved very quickly. When Barron got out of the car, he saw the door of this building. The name of the company had been changed to Sentinel Company.

"We already have several good products, like the drone you see, called 'Coyote', which is a small drone we developed under commission from the U.S. Navy... …”

Listening to Matthew's introduction, what appeared in front of Barron was a small fixed-wing drone that looked a little... crude.

Of course, this is Barron’s impression compared to the drones he saw in his previous life...

After Matthew's introduction, Barron learned that this "Coyote" drone was a one-time product.

The "Coyote" is 0.91 meters long, has a wingspan of 1.47 meters, and weighs 5.9 kilograms, including a maximum mission load of 0.9 kilograms.

It is generally released from an aircraft at 20,000 feet using a method similar to sonobuoy release, and then separated from its packaging, unfolding its wings and stabilizing the speed at 60 knots (111 kilometers/hour). The target is one hour of endurance at 60 knots, which would be increased by 50% if battery life is used.

Since last year, the "Coyote" has begun several rounds of test flights, and is now able to start mass production and provide it to the U.S. Navy and related agencies for various purposes...

The model used by the U.S. Navy, for example, will use an infrared or electro-optical sensor for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

The model provided to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States is equipped with weather sensors that can be used for the study of weather data such as hurricanes and tropical storms.

"This project was originally carried out by Advanced Ceramics Research Company. The initial model had many problems. After BAE Systems acquired it, we improved the technology of this drone. It is now very mature and has entered delivery. The application stage…”

Matthew said to Barron:

"Of course, we will continue to improve on the current basis to launch subsequent new drones. In addition, we are also working on other projects, some of which are also cooperating with the American military."

Although cooperation with the U.S. military sounds very high-end, in fact, it is often the case that some military agencies entrust private companies to design and develop products after they put forward their needs.

However, being able to achieve such cooperation also shows that Sentinel's technical strength is quite good.

For example, in the field of drones, they are currently divided into two types: fixed-wing drones and rotary-wing drones.

Obviously, Sentinel is mainly a company engaged in the research of fixed-wing drones. As for rotary-wing drones - such as the very famous DJI drones in Barron's previous life, they are all rotary-wing drones. The drone is developed from a single-rotor drone similar to a helicopter.

For rotary-wing drones, the most important thing is actually the software aspect, which is the flight control system of the drone. It requires complex algorithms to control the flight attitude of this drone, which can achieve many functions including hovering. kind of attitude.

In this field, Barron has already made plans. As early as two years ago, Rich23 Capital had invested in the early DJI company. They currently hold about 15% of the shares of DJI.

This time Wang Wanting takes over the CEO position of Rich23 Capital, one of the more important tasks is to continue to participate in DJI’s future financing.

The headquarters of Rich23 Capital is set up in Lijiapo. Although the previous person in charge, Chen Fuyang, needs to manage Avago Technologies in Lijiapo, all the previous directors of this investment company are Chinese, and the headquarters is in Lijiapo, which is mainly Chinese. And it has previously invested in a number of Chinese Internet companies, including the Big Three BAT, and is relatively familiar with the Chinese market.

In addition, Digital Future Investment Company has also acquired a company in London that is researching similar drones, called Hangyu Precision. They are cooperating with the University of Cambridge and are also conducting research on multi-rotor drones. Now they have developed The first-generation engineering prototype has undergone three modifications and has also made great progress in the flight control system.

Of course, for small drones, in addition to the flight control system, the battery is also a very important component. Especially rotor drones need to be powered by batteries. At the same time, the weight of the battery should not be too large, so that it can be owned Longer airtime...

If these achievements are to be commercialized, then the cost control of drones is also an important part. Otherwise, even if Aerospace Seiko’s multi-rotor drones can reach the level of DJI, they will be priced out If there are too many, there will be no competitiveness.

You must know that in this regard, Huaxia's company has great advantages. It is not only the problem of labor costs, but more importantly, in the future development, Huaxia will be able to have a rich entire industry chain, providing a solid foundation for the development of these consumer electronics products. Manufacturing and providing the most cost-effective components - If this continues, I am afraid that in ten years' time, except for the Shenzhen market, there will be no such professional, diverse, and cost-effective electronic component markets in other countries.

But Barron also understands that, as can be seen from the subsequent Russia-Ukraine conflict, even in military conflicts in the future, the importance of drones will be unparalleled.

It can be said that in the face of suicide drones equipped with high-explosive bombs, traditional tanks are almost like targets. How much does such a drone cost, and how much does a tank cost?

Therefore, even as a strategic investment, drones are a very important area and worthy of Barron's investment in this area.

"In addition to maintaining research and development in North America, we will also set up a branch in England in the future. Sentinel's products can also be used for project cooperation with the British military."

After hearing Barron's words, Matthew nodded and said:

"I have a lot of knowledge about British drone research and development, and I believe that we will be able to find enough talents to join us."

In terms of drones, Sentinel's positioning is mainly for military scientific research and other fields, while Aerospace Precision's positioning is to open up the civilian market.

However, there will still be no problems with the cooperation between the two parties in some technical aspects.

When Barron and his party left Arizona and arrived in Los Angeles, he was rejected at Amanda Hearst's estate.