Rebirth of England.

Chapter 791 Sentinel Company
"Welcome to the Sentinel Company, Your Highness."

After comforting Ivanta, Barron left New York and took the Devonshire to Tucson, Arizona, where the small drone project that the Cavendish Trust had just purchased from BAE Systems was located.

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

The one who greeted Barron here was Matthew Blot, who had already left BAE Systems. After the acquisition, the small UAV project here will be renamed Sentinel, and Matthew Blot will serve as the CEO of Sentinel, responsible for leading these companies to continue developing small UAVs.

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

"We already have several good products, such as the drone you see here, called 'Coyote', which is a small drone we developed on behalf of the US Navy..."

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

Of course, this is the impression Barron had compared to the drones he had seen in his previous life...

With Matthew's introduction, Barron learned that the "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 payload of 0.9 kilograms.

It is typically dropped from an aircraft at 20000 feet in a sonobuoy-like manner, then detaches from its packaging, unfolds its wings, and stabilizes at 60 knots (111 km/h). The goal is to fly for an hour at 60 knots, which can be increased by 1% using batteries.

Since last year, the "Jungle Wolf" has started several rounds of test flights and is now ready for mass production and provided to the U.S. Navy and related agencies for various purposes...

The model used by the U.S. Navy, for example, would 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 meteorological sensors and can be used to study meteorological data such as hurricanes and tropical storms.

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

Matthew said to Barron:
"Of course, we will continue to make improvements on the current basis to launch subsequent new drones. In addition, we are also working on other projects, some of which are also in cooperation with the US military."

Although cooperation with the U.S. military sounds very impressive, in reality, it is often the case that some military agencies put forward requirements and then entrust private companies to carry out design and development.

However, the fact that such cooperation can be achieved also shows that Sentinel's technical strength is quite good.

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

Obviously, Sentinel is a company that mainly engages in the research of fixed-wing UAVs. As for rotary-wing UAVs, such as the well-known DJI UAVs in Barron's previous life, they are all rotary-wing UAVs, which are developed from single-rotor UAVs similar to helicopters. For rotary-wing UAVs, the most important thing is the software, that is, the flight control system of the UAV, which requires complex algorithms to control the flight posture of the UAV, and can achieve a variety of postures including hovering.

Barron has already made some arrangements in this field. As early as two years ago, Rich23 Capital had invested in the early stage of DJI, and currently they hold about 15% of DJI's shares.

This time, Wang Wanting took over the position of CEO of Rich23 Capital. One of her more important tasks is to continue to participate in DJI's future financing.

Rich23 Capital's headquarters is located in Lijiaopo. Although this was due to the fact that the previous head, Chen Fuyang, needed to manage Anhua High-Tech in Lijiaopo, all previous heads of this investment company were Chinese. The headquarters is located in Lijiaopo, which is mainly populated by Chinese people. It has also previously invested in many Chinese Internet companies including the BAT Big Three, so it is relatively familiar with the Chinese market.

In addition, Digital Future Investments also acquired a company in London that researches similar drones, called Aerospace Precision. They are also working with the University of Cambridge to research multi-rotor drones. The first generation of engineering prototypes they have developed has undergone three changes, and there has also been 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 for rotorcraft drones, which need to be powered by batteries. At the same time, the weight of the battery should not be too large, so that it can have a longer hovering time...

If these achievements are to be commercialized, cost control of drones will also be an important part. Otherwise, even if Hangyu Jinggong's multi-rotor drones can reach the level of DJI, they will not be competitive if the selling price is too far behind.

You know, in this regard, Chinese companies have great advantages. It's not just a matter of labor costs. What's more important is that in the future development, China will be able to have a rich full industrial chain and provide the most cost-effective components for the manufacturing of these consumer electronic products. If it continues to develop in this way, I'm afraid that in ten years, except for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, there will be basically no other country in the world that has such a professional electronic component market with such a wide variety and such a high cost-effectiveness.

But Barron also understood that the subsequent Russia-Ukraine conflict showed that even in future military conflicts, the importance of drones would be unmatched.

It can be said that in front of a suicide drone equipped with high-explosive bombs, traditional tanks are almost like targets. How much does this drone cost, and how much does a tank cost?
Therefore, even as a strategic investment, drones are a very important field, and it is worth it for Barron to invest some resources in it.

"In addition to maintaining R&D in North America, we will also set up a branch in the UK. Sentinel's products can also try to cooperate with the British military on projects."

Hearing Barron's words, Matthew nodded and said:

"I have a lot of knowledge about the research and development of drones in the UK. I believe we will be able to find enough talents to join us when the time comes."

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

However, there will be no problem in the cooperation between the two sides in some technical aspects.

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

(End of this chapter)