Airware Partners with Insitu, Hires Paul Mikesell as VP of Engineering and Plans to Open San Francisco Office

As the annual AUVSI (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International) Unmanned Systems conference kicks off in Washington, D.C., Airware, the maker of AirwareOS, is announcing a new partnership, a key hire and plans for expansion.

Airware Partners with Insitu

Airware is partnering with Insitu, a leader in the small UAS space, to enable interoperability between Airware’s autopilots and Insitu’s ground control software, ICOMC2. Airware will offer ICOMC2 as an additional ground control station solution for their autopilot systems, enabling commercial enterprises to utilize ICOMC2 for control of their UAS. The partnership leverages Insitu’s long history and experience in the small UAS space and Airware’s innovative development platform for commercial UAS, AirwareOS. The combined solution will be demonstrated during Unmanned Systems North America at Airware’s booth, 3921.

“It’s a busy and exciting time at Airware. We are thrilled to be partnering with Insitu to create more options and flexible solutions for commercial UAS enterprises,” said Airware founder and CEO Jonathan Downey.

Paul Mikesell to Lead Engineering

Continuing an aggressive hiring strategy to meet customer demand, Airware has hired Paul Mikesell as Vice President of Engineering. Paul is not only a brilliant engineer, but an experienced executive leader who co-founded both Isilon Systems and Clustrix and led Isilon Systems through a successful IPO. In his new role, he will lead the engineering teams working on all aspects of Airware’s software and hardware solutions.

Airware Expands to San Francisco

San Francisco will soon be home to Airware’s second office, opening later this year. Airware San Francisco will be a technology development space complementing the company’s Newport Beach headquarters. Available positions in San Francisco include engineering roles in software, hardware, and flight controls.

“Bringing Paul on board is the latest example of the strong talent that we’ve been able to hire at Airware. We’ve been successful at hiring in Southern California, which has a huge concentration of aerospace professionals, but there are other areas of expertise that we are looking for, and the San Francisco office will allow us to tap into multiple talent pools, enable us to meet customer demand and continue to scale,” said Downey.

About Airware

Airware is redefining the unmanned aerial system (UAS) industry by creating AirwareOS, a platform for the development of small commercial UAS. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, the company’s enterprise solution combines autopilot hardware, flexible software architectures, and an API for customization and expansion.