Anduril and Korean Air are looking to develop a system that uses unmanned air vehicles to respond to wildfires.
The system will see UAVs from the two companies incorporated into a system that manages “the entire response cycle with minimal human intervention,” says Korean Air.
“Wildfires are a global crisis, but the way we fight them is horribly antiquated,” says Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, Founder of Anduril Industries.
“By integrating [Korean’s] UAVs into Anduril’s existing end-to-end wildfire response platform, we will dramatically accelerate wildfire response by making it more automated, comprehensive, and scalable, ultimately saving countless lives and billions in property damage.”
Anduril says that its wildfire response platform – which is based on its Lattice software - uses detection from a range of distributed sensors to create a common picture that can alert operators as soon as a fire breaks out.
Operators can then dispatch UAVs, such as a Korean Air system or Anduril’s Fury autonomous system, to assess the fire, before subsequently dispatching other unmanned assets or crewed platforms to supress it.
“This partnership applies Korean Air’s core unmanned systems expertise to a critical global challenge,” says Korean Air.
“Our goal is to provide first responders with a critical technological advantage to save lives and property from wildfires.”
The work represents an expansion of an agreement the two companies signed in august, under which the two companies will develop autonomous aircraft for South Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific.
South Korea experiences significant wildfire problems, particularly during the dry, windy spring months of March and April when fires can spread rapidly across the country’s mountainous, densely forested terrain.
Cirium, an aviation analytics company, indicates that South Korea has 64 helicopters dedicated to firefighting.
This includes 28 Kamov Ka-32Ts in service with the South Korean Forestry Aviation Office. Parapublic agencies also employ several other helicopter types in the firefighting mission.
