July 15, 2024 – PLANA, a developer of hybrid-electric aircraft for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Goldrone, a South Korean drone manufacturer, to cooperate on unmanned aircraft systems for special-purpose missions.
The agreement was signed at PLANA’s Icheon R&D Center in a ceremony attended by Braden Kim, CEO of PLANA, and Nam-pal Park, CEO of Goldrone.
Under the MOU, PLANA will support Goldrone’s entry into the special-purpose drone market with its flight control technology, and the two companies will work together to enter domestic and international markets. To help Goldrone expand its industrial drone lineup, PLANA will provide stable flight control technology and a hybrid power system that enables long-endurance flight.
The companies will also jointly develop business models for special-purpose hybrid industrial drones, with applications spanning agriculture, maritime operations, and firefighting, and will cooperate on market entry and fundraising.
Founded in 2015 to develop agricultural drones, Goldrone is one of the earliest drone manufacturers in South Korea and operates drone production and sales as well as crop-spraying services. The partnership pairs Goldrone’s field experience in industrial drone operations with PLANA’s expertise in hybrid power systems, which are more complex to develop than battery-only systems.
“PLANA’s technology has been built around safety, sustainability, and profitability, and applying it to the unmanned aviation market is a very meaningful opportunity,” said Braden Kim, CEO of PLANA. “We are pleased that this collaboration will allow us to demonstrate our core technologies and contribute to the expansion of the AAM market.”
“Having seen the limitations of conventional drones firsthand, we are honored to work with Korea’s leading developer on more advanced technology,” said Nam-pal Park, CEO of Goldrone. “We expect this foundational technology to lead to production models as we enter new markets that call for expanded training content, security, and safety.”