According to this article, this very ordinary looking quadcopter from AirCover Solutions that's being promoted to US police forces costs $40,000 to $60,000. Can anyone explain why?
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According to this article, this very ordinary looking quadcopter from AirCover Solutions that's being promoted to US police forces costs $40,000 to $60,000. Can anyone explain why?
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$60k will not even pay for half the salary of an engineer or programmer for a half a year. We're expensive.
Allen, if that's the case there's some incorrect press out there about the cost. Either way they're a lot less expensive than the "Lifesaver" drone.
The MESA County Sheriff's office has two UAS's. They started with a Dragon Flyer X6 which lists anywhere from $15K to $25K depending on confguration and only gets about 15 minutes of flight time. About a year later they partnered with an Aurora Colorado company FALCON UAV and acquired a fixed wing UAS called the Falcon UAV. It has a flight duration of approx 1 hour and retails for $13K with camera and either the Procerus - Kestrel autopilot or you can shave off about $5K and they will substitute the Kestrel with the Ardupilot. The fixed wing was sold to them at cost as their first client. By the way - neither of these UAS's are $2,000.
it seems to be a flying coffin...
I'm sorry, but you've all been brainwashed if you're trying to justify the $60,000 price tag. Mesa County Sheriff's Office in Colorado is using drones that cost about $2,000 each and they do everything the "Lifesaver" can do at 1/30th of the cost. They're also legal with the FAA because they have a COA.
As a tax payer if my sheriff's office bought these I'd be pissed. Super pissed. I don't care how much cheaper they are than a helicopter because every drone or two is another officer they could've had on the force. Or better benefits for the officers like health and life insurance or pensions. Just because there's more zeros on the price tag doesn't mean it's somehow inherently better.
If it has a thermal camera, that's $5-10k right there. That plus training, a ground station, spare parts, lots of operational testing, and probably 24/7 tech support. And all of the associated man-hours. Oh, and note that the entire thing appears to be carbon fiber.
How much would it cost for an arducopter to be sold as a reliable, hassle-free commercial product?
DoD piece is of course for federal business.
Because doing business with the Government is extraordinarily expensive. Every aspect is complicated by convoluted and often conflicting regulation. In order to remain legal, companies must hire more and more experts. Accountants, Contract Managers, Security Officers, DoD required training for all personnel.... and on... and on .... and on.
If you would know why business with the Government is expensive just take a peak at the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
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