Volatus Aerospace secures approval from Transport Canada

TORONTO — Volatus Aerospace Inc. has announced that Transport Canada has issued a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) authorizing Volatus to conduct more complex Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations by authorizing the use of MatrixSpace’s next-generation radar, integrated through Kongsberg Geospatial’s IRIS Terminal platform.

Volatus describes MatrixSpace’s technology as compact, low-power, and able to detect smaller non-cooperative traffic such as other drones. When integrated with Kongsberg’s airspace awareness and traffic management software, and supported by Volatus’ remote Operations Control Center, the capabilities make it practical to scale BVLOS operations into applications such as automated drone-in-a-box networks, distributed wide-area monitoring, and autonomous services according to the company.

“This SFOC builds upon milestones such as Volatus’ approved BVLOS medical delivery operations at Halton Healthcare,” began Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus Aerospace. “With our partners, we are expanding these capabilities by integrating a lightweight and scalable detect and avoid system. This combination makes it practical to move from specialized projects into wide-scale deployments like drone-in-a-box networks, giving customers safe, reliable, and scalable autonomous services.”

Volatus already holds nationwide SFOCs permitting BVLOS operations in low-risk airspace, atypical airspace, high altitude, and nighttime missions at an advanced regulatory risk level recognized by Transport Canada. Building on this foundation, the integration will expand automated drone-in-a-box services for infrastructure security, utilities, and industrial monitoring, as well as wide-area inspection and surveillance at higher altitudes, such as forestry, wildfire monitoring, and environmental oversight.

“This approval represents a major step toward scalable autonomous drone operations,” said Greg Waters, Co-founder & CEO, MatrixSpace. “Our compact radar technology is designed for exactly these kinds of applications, and Volatus is leading the way in bringing drone-in-a-box and automated services to the Canadian market.”