Drone manufacturer BRINC revealed Tuesday a major enhancement for its public safety unmanned aircraft. The company’s latest model, Guardian, will feature Starlink satellite connectivity on every unit—a first for drones available to commercial buyers.
This upcoming model, scheduled to begin production later this year, offers flight duration exceeding one hour and maximum speeds surpassing sixty miles per hour. BRINC describes it as the “first drone capable of pursuing vehicles.”
Furthermore, Guardian can transport multiple payloads from its charging station, including flotation equipment, cardiac defibrillators, epinephrine injectors, the opioid overdose treatment Narcan, and additional items. The station can also exchange batteries robotically in approximately sixty seconds, according to the manufacturer.
Guardian also features substantially improved imaging systems, with paired four-kilometer visual sensors and sixty-four times total magnification, which the company states can “deliver a clear image from more than one thousand feet distant.”
“It’s truly the most capable emergency response drone ever created,” BRINC’s founder, Blake Resnick, stated during Tuesday’s presentation. “Guardian represents more of a direct competitor to police helicopters than any drone the industry has produced so far.”
Additionally, Resnick noted, the aircraft includes a notably loud siren system, capable of producing sound at one hundred thirty decibels—approximately matching the volume of a pneumatic drill or aircraft during takeoff.
“If you compared Guardian emitting a siren tone calibrated to match speaker frequency alongside a police vehicle’s siren playing the same tone, Guardian would produce three times the volume,” he explained.
The Seattle-based BRINC produces drones currently deployed by more than nine hundred municipalities across the United States, including Laredo, Texas, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, as part of the expanding “drone as first responder” program.
Typically, municipalities invest several hundred thousand dollars annually per drone—with multi-drone, multi-capability contracts extending into millions. One year ago, Newport Beach, California, disclosed a two-point-one-seven million dollar, five-year agreement with BRINC for seven aircraft. (According to Forbes, BRINC holds an estimated valuation near four hundred eighty million dollars as of last year.)
One current client, the Redmond Police Department in Washington state, informed Ars that this latest model represented a “completely new and distinct airframe design.”
“This marks a substantial advancement in first-responder drone innovation and potential,” emailed Jill Green, a department spokesperson.
Nevertheless, one experienced drone observer and analyst, Faine Greenwood, expressed less enthusiasm about the announcement.