A Marine Corps operator launches a UAS. Photo: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.

Ligado Networks has formed a collaborative partnership with Harris Corporation to enable Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight Operations for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (BVLOS UAS). According to Ligado, the two companies share a vision with respect to the commercial market for BVLOS UAS applications and will demonstrate how their joint expertise and technological capabilities can enable the safe integration of such operations into the national airspace system.

Ligado and Harris will demonstrate new technologies and applications of BVLOS UAS through technology trials, including Harris’ planned BVLOS Network, HubNet, in North Dakota and Ligado’s upcoming network demonstration in Louisiana. The companies will test mission-critical use cases to generate data that will be beneficial in future U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification processes, including the development of safety-related use cases.

This partnership comes on the heels of Harris’ recent announcement of its North Dakota grant to expand UAS research and testing and follows the successful use of Ligado’s network capabilities in demonstrations of BVLOS UAS applications supporting critical infrastructure.