If you need a fully compliant, NDAA-approved drone setup, you can now officially pre-order three brand-new, Blue UAS-cleared camera gimbals from Gremsy USA and Teledyne FLIR OEM: the VIO F1, ORUS L NDAA, and LYNX NDAA.
Between state-level government bans, FCC crackdowns, and strict federal procurement rules, everyone (not just government buyers!) is talking about buying “American-made” drones. But building a compliant drone isn’t just about molding a carbon-fiber airframe in California or assembling quadcopters in Florida. Alas, the microcontrollers, optical sensors, and thermal cores inside the payload matter just as much as where the drone itself was built.
So for people who need all their parts to be American-made, here’s a solution: Gremsy USA and Teledyne FLIR OEM teamed up on a new payload line that is NDAA-compliant.
What NDAA compliance actually means (and why it matters)
If you fly for a municipal police department, perform infrastructure inspections using federal grants bid on Department of Defense (DoD) subcontracts or use drones for any other work in that vein, it’s likely that you encounter these policy standards constantly:
- NDAA Compliance: Under Section 848 of the National Defense Authorization Act, federal agencies (and federally funded operations) are prohibited from buying or operating unmanned systems sourced from covered foreign entities. That extends to critical sub-components like radios, flight controllers, and camera payloads.
- Blue UAS Cleared: Managed by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the Blue UAS program vets and validates drones, component parts, and payloads to ensure they meet strict military supply chain and cybersecurity standards. When a gimbal earns “Blue UAS Cleared” status, operators can deploy it without needing custom security waivers.
Finding high-performance, lightweight Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) camera systems that check every single NDAA box can be a bottleneck for U.S. drone builders.
About the Gremsy USA + Teledyne FLIR partnership
By integrating U.S.-made Thermal by FLIR® radiometric thermal cores directly into lightweight gimbal architectures, Gremsy USA is addressing the industry’s strict SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) constraints. That means tactical quadcopters, micro-drones, and long-range fixed-wing aircraft can carry high-end thermal capabilities without destroying their flight times.
Here is what’s in the new Blue UAS-cleared lineup:
- Gremsy VIO F1: A versatile EO/IR payload combining a 4K optical zoom camera, a 640×512 radiometric thermal sensor, and an integrated 2,400-meter laser rangefinder. It’s built for search and rescue, complex utility inspection, and situational awareness.
- Gremsy ORUS L NDAA: A heavy-duty, aerodynamic spherical payload designed for long-range surveillance and critical infrastructure monitoring under tough weather conditions.
- Gremsy LYNX NDAA: An ultra-lightweight dual EO/IR gimbal weighing under 200 grams. It’s optimized for tactical micro-UAVs running Pixhawk, CubePilot, or Skynode controllers that need dual-spectrum imaging on a tiny power budget.
While pre-orders for the newly announced Blue UAS-cleared VIO F1, ORUS L NDAA, and LYNX NDAA models are currently open directly via Gremsy USA, you can browse and purchase Gremsy’s established line of camera stabilization systems through authorized retail partners like B&H Photo:
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