Big news for the cybersecurity side of the drone industry. There’s now a tethered drone with Green UAS clearance — and it’s made in America. In September 2024, the Hoverfly Spectre became the first tethered drone to earn the critical certification that confirms its secure and NDAA compliant, via the Green UAS Certification.

What is Green UAS?

The Green UAS program, spearheaded by drone advocacy giant Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), is relatively new. Established in collaboration with the U.S. government’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), it aims to bridge the gap between the existing Blue UAS Cleared List (which focuses on Department of Defense needs) and the vast array of drones used for non-military applications where cybersecurity is still of utmost importance.

Green UAS certification verifies that a drone platform meets the highest standards of cybersecurity and complies with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) supply chain requirements.

The program largely kicked off in April 2024, when AUVSI and the DIU signed what’s called a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). With that, they agreed to create a process for drone component manufacturers holding Green UAS certification to share their data directly with DIU.

The Green UAS program gained traction during XPONENTIAL 2024, which is one of the world’s largest drone conferences. And less than six months later, and we have a tethered drone on the list of products that meet the program’s ultra-high security standards.

About the Hoverfly Spectre — and how it earned such approvals

To earn Green UAS certification, AUVSI reviewed Spectre’s product security. That review process scoured all components and subcomponents, remote operations security, supply chain risk management. It also dug into Hoverfly’s corporate cyber hygiene.

And with that, Hoverfly became the first tethered drone company to cross the milestone approval.

Hoverfly, which is based in Sanford, Florida, focuses its business entirely on tethered drones. Tethered drones are unique because the tether provides continuous power and ability to transfer high-bandwidth data. With that, drones can remain in the air almost indefinitely. That can be a critical feature for missions such as surveillance and relaying communications.

The Hoverfly Spectre tethered drone is relatively easy to operate. Though, easy is relative. Hoverfly recommends operates still go through a multi-day training program.

Besides the Spectre drone, which is built for radios and is largely used for ISR and Communications Relay, Hoverfly also builds a robust aircraft called the Sentry. The all-weather SENTRY drone is designed to operate in extreme conditions.

One of its biggest clients is the U.S. Army. In fact, this summer it crossed a milestone when it sold its 500th drone to the U.S. Army. That happened in June 2024, when it fulfilled a $14 million purchase order that included 120 more drones, as well as spare parts and accessories.

The latest on Blue and Green UAS

Earning such a Blue or Green stamp of approval is critical for drone makers like Hoverfly. With such a certification, drone manufacturers can unlock top-tier clients, as they can now sell their products to a broader range of customers. (That’s typically non-defense customers who still require strong cybersecurity.) After all, some serious clients often only buy drones with Blue or Green clearance.

That just means that drone companies can unlock more clients. It also can streamline the vetting process, as individual clients (assuming they trust the Green UAS approval standards) don’t have to individually vet the products they buy.

Other Green certified components on DIU’s Blue UAS Framework list include the Aeronav ground control station from UXV Technologies, the HD45 gimbal from Trillium Engineering, the Embedded Mesh Rider radio from Doodle Labs, the StreamCaster LITE 4200 radio from Silvus Technologies and the WIRIS Enterprise camera from Workswell.

The Hoverfly tethered drone Green UAS approval comes at a time when the Defense Innovation Unit is conducting a “refresh of vendors and platforms on the Blue UAS Cleared List.” After all, drone makers constantly change their parts makers. Corporate cyber hygiene practices can change (and might get more lax depending on who is at the helm).

In a prepared, the agency said it was “prioritizing UAS that have already been vetted as meeting the highest levels of cybersecurity and NDAA supply chain requirements.”

AUVSI said it has a solid pipeline of more companies to receive Green UAS approval. In fact, there are more than a dozen companies so far across various stages of the approval process. AUVSI said in a statement to The Drone Girl that it intends to announce Green UAS approvals for a handful of other drones and components in the coming weeks and months.

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