Drone maker partners with Wewa airship builder
Skyborne Technology, based in Wewahitchka, and Atlantic Industrial Group Inc. have announced a joint venture that looks to expand the manufacturing capability at Skyborne’s Gulf County facility.
AIG, a manufacturing and holding company that licenses existing and underutilized advanced technologies, will manufacture multiple high-efficiency drone models, known as SVTOLs, at the facility, which will also set up an in-house design center for airships and drones using large-scale three-dimensional printers to manufacture lightweight airframe parts, wing structures, cockpits, and others.
Skyborne, a UAV Corp Company, will continue building the low altitude semi-rigid spherical airships in Wewahitchka. Both companies will utilize Skyborne’s Costin Airport for flight operations, supported by newly completed infrastructure, including an airport road, water and sewer and power, which was funded under a grant program funded by the Federal Economic Development Administration and the Florida Department of Commerce.
A future 300 feet by 125 feet by 100 feet hangar facility will house completed aircraft and airships. The joint venture calls for AIG to create custom integrations of its drones into Skyborne’s lighter-than-air platforms.
The company said their factory in Wewahitchka will hire high-paying drone fabrication workers, digital design personnel, and business development professionals to support demand for its advanced technologies.
AIG currently holds several technology licenses that it plans to manufacture for government contracts and private security needs. These include VTOLs (Vertical Takeoff and Landing), energy generation, and propulsion.
“We are thrilled to partner with Skyborne Technology to bring our advanced UAV and SVTOL technologies to the next level,” said AIG’s Chief Revenue Office Maceo Remy. “This venture will not only create new job opportunities in the region but also help us meet the growing demand for our cutting-edge technologies.”
Jim McKnight, director of the Gulf County Economic Development Coalition, said that “we are truly excited by the UAV/Skyborne and Atlantic Industrial Group, Inc. partnership and its potential to create aerospace manufacturing jobs at the Gulf County Industrial Park in Wewahitchka and the Costin Airport in Port St. Joe. The partnership will diversify our economic base, create high-paying jobs, and increase our role in the rapidly growing Northwest Florida aerospace industry.”
Skyborne’s CEO/Michael Lawson said that “we believe this partnership will revolutionize the unmanned aerial vehicle industry by combining our expertise in lighter-than-air vehicles with AIG’s efficient manufacturing models for their drones,” said. “We look forward to collaborating with AIG to create new technologies that will benefit both the government and civilian sectors worldwide.”
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.