Commercialization of unmanned Condor needs to be fast-tracked
By Medicine Hat News on April 15, 2020.
A massive drone that will be tested at Foremost this summer may be pushed forward into commercial use sooner than originally anticipated, according to Drone Delivery Canada. That company, which is developing the “Condor’, said Tuesday the vehicle that rivals a traditional helicopter in size and can carry a payload of 200 kilograms, is being sought by companies struggling to get supplies to remote parts of Canada. “With the COVID-19 situation, interested customers have asked us to fast-track the commercialization process, which we are now doing” stated Michael Zahra, the president of DDC. “The capabilities of the Condor simply address many social … and economic … use-cases being requested by DDC’s customers.” The vehicle measures 22 feet long and five feet wide, not including a 20-foot diameter rotor. It has a stated range of 200 kilometres. It is being proved at the Foremost UAS range south of Medicine Hat. Grain handling G3 grain has announced that it continues to accept deliveries at all its elevator locations including those closest to southeast Alberta, in Leader and Swift Current, Sask., while construction continues at Carmangay, Alta., toward a spring opening and also on a major expansion at Swift Current in 2021. The grain handling firm stated that social distancing measures mean that at facilities that accept deliveries, paper work and other interactions will occur out of doors. Goodyear in holding pattern Goodyear Tires has extended a watch-date for the re-opening of its global manufacturing facilities until at least May at the earliest, CEO Richard Kramer told trade magazine, Tire World, recently. In late March the company initially closed facilities in North and South America to April 3 – a move that led to more than 200 layoffs in Medicine Hat. 11-10
