Parallel Flight Technologies is currently doing flight testing with our heavy-lift test drone, "The Big Mule," and the IGNIS system from Drone Amplified.

IGNIS is a complete system that integrates with drones and carries a payload of chemical spheres. In real-world applications, these balls are ignited on command, sparking prescribed fires in the exact area where the sphere is dropped (in this flight test video, the balls were not ignited). Current drones can only carry 400 balls at a time, but PFT's system has enough lift capacity for 3,500 balls, allowing a significantly larger coverage area per flight.

This work is being done as part of our grant from the USDA, which was given to support development of a controlled burn/prescribed fire solution for the US Forest Service. This work is incredibly important because a number of helicopter pilots have died doing controlled burns, as it is a low and slow operation with no room to recover. Using drones will not only lower the cost of land management to prevent large-scale wildfires, but also prevent helicopter accidents.

https://www.parallelflight.com