For years, foreign UAV manufacturers have enjoyed ready access to the U.S. consumer market, allowing them to monopolize sales in nearly every drone niche, from recreational flying to law enforcement.  But with pressure growing to limit their access, long-standing domestic suppliers like Skydio and Skyfish are rushing to fill the void.  And so are a few enterprising start-ups.

One of those young risk-takers is Indiana-based Uniform Sierra Aerospace, a company launched by three graduates of Purdue University back in 2021.  Uniform Sierra began by developing an indoor quadcopter drone – dubbed Arrowhead – that could survey inside collapsed buildings and could also assist SWAT teams with hostage situations.  It soon caught on with companies nationwide.  “It’s unique in that it can enter buildings and operate inside of buildings, without GPS and in difficult radio environments, and that’s designed to take people out of harm’s way,” company co-founder Duncn Mulgrew says.

Based on that initial success, the team soon received requests for an outdoor drone that could assist police departments with criminal pursuit and search-and-rescue operations.  Many first responders in Indiana and elsewhere currently rely on DJI drones but Mulrew says Sierra’s custom-built drones – the Arrowhead and now the Phantom – are cheaper and more efficient as well as easier to operate.

“We can build the aircraft a lot faster. We did a lot of R&D in late 2023 to kind of further improve Arrowhead as the core initial product, which has better video, better connectivity, flies longer; it’s just a better system overall. And on top of that, we’ve made it a lot easier to manufacture, [which] leads to lower costs for the customer,” he says.

The Arrowhead drone can operate indoors continuously for over 20 minutes and is equipped with optional thermal sensors as well as LED floodlights for dark environments.  The drone includes a mesh capable digital radio link, which allows it to stream full HD video back to an operator in real time. The drone also has what’s called an All-Axis Recovery capability, which means it can automatically recover from crashes by flipping over, as needed, to resume flight.

The Panther can fly continuously for over 45 minutes at speeds up to 45 mph but comes equipped with smart batteries that are hot swappable with a ground power port, which keeps flight interruptions to a minimum.  The drone has a 3 kg (6.6 lbs) payload capacity and can reduce its cargo automatically after the craft descends and hovers close to its destination point. It’s also foldable and can fit into a large backpack.

Another competitive advantage to Panther is its ability to fly in higher winds than other unmanned aerial systems.  The drone is also fully waterproofed so that it can fly in rain and snow.

“The primary challenge of outdoor operations is being able to operate no matter the weather conditions at the time,” Mulgrew said. “In the event of a missing person case that requires search and rescue, our users can’t afford to ground their drone fleet if it’s windy or raining.”

Uniform Sierra got off the ground with an $80,000 seed investment from the Elevate Nexus pitch competition in 2022, plus $100,000 from the Purdue Innovates Startup Foundry’s Black and Gold Awards pitch competition in 2023.  But last year the company raised nearly $500,000 in a pre-seed round of venture capital, which has allowed it to accelerate its development beyond expectations, Mulgrew says.