UPD, a Small Maryland Business to Keep An Eye On

Unmanned Propulsion Development, UPD, is a bootstrap startup company, founded by Matt Hayes, located in Southern Maryland, currently operating out of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates Air Park. Matt has developed a two-stroke hybrid power system for VTOL UAS that should provide power for 6-14 times longer than batteries. Matt is joined by retired USN Captain, Tracy Barkhimer as the UPD Director of Program Development and Lindsay Digman, the UPD Chief UAS Pilot/Operator. On Thursday, October 24th, 2019, with some assistance and mentoring from Jeff Street, a fellow drone engineer and pilot in Baltimore, the team successfully achieved first flight with the company’s M1200 Quadcopter. The team will continue to test and modify the air vehicle and looks forward to their next milestone in the coming months which will include flights with the UPD 2kW hybrid power system and an endurance flight of six hours flight time. For more information, feel free to contact me at [email protected] or 301-908-7880.