FLIR hits turbulence with the ION M440 Blue sUAS

FLIR has removed their ION M440 Blue sUAS from sale citing problems with the platform. A message was sent to all buyers and resellers earlier this morning.

There were rumours last week that one of the Blue sUAS platforms was in trouble and it actually was not this one. So I expect this will be a developing story.

The platform was originally designed by Altivian, a Florida startup bought by FLIR in December 2020. Last Tuesday we even spoke about Blue sUAS on Drone Stuff This Week. I thought chip shortages might be part of the rumours we were hearing.

I am sad to announce that as of now the FLIR ION M440 is removed from the UAS Pricelist.

Teledyne FLIR has completed a through assessment of the ION M440 product.

That assessment uncovered several critical design problems that need to be resolved.

We have decided to pull all product back from the field and cancel all POs for the ION M440.

We are in the process of fixing the design problems and will reach out when we have a firm timeline relative to the availability of the redesigned product.

Thanks for being a trusted Teledyne FLIR partner.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Best regards

Maarten Kros
Global sUAS Segment Leader

The FLIR ION M440 is a tactical short-range reconnaissance quadcopter purpose-built for austere environments. The ION is a small, light-weight, ruck-sack portable drone. This system gets in the air fast, ready to perform advanced autonomous functions while operating in obstacle-rich environments. GPS-denied flight capabilities, day and nighttime collision avoidance, and agile flight control make it an ideal reconnaissance air vehicle. The ION is NDAA-compliant and pre-approved for government acquisition by the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue sUAS Program.

• RAPIDLY DEPLOYABLEImmediately soldier-deployable short-range reconnaissance VTOL system.
• SAFER TO FLYEmbedded sensors and advanced flight algorithms offer a continuous collision avoidance failsafe.
• OPERABLE IN GPS-DENIED ENVIRONMENTSMaintains operational and flight capabilities in GPS-denied or degraded environments.