AVSS Surpasses 2,000 Systems Manufactured Year-to-Date, Setting a New Canadian Drone Production Record

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AVSS – Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions Inc., a Canadian aerospace company headquartered in Fredericton, New Brunswick, has announced it has manufactured more than 2,000 drone components and complete systems year-to-date in the current fiscal year — a figure that already surpasses the company's total production for the entire previous fiscal year. The milestone makes 2026 the strongest production year in AVSS's history since it was founded in 2017.

The output figure covers a deliberately broad product scope. In addition to the ASTM F3322-compliant parachute recovery systems (PRS) for which AVSS first built its international reputation, the company now designs, manufactures, and supplies drone motors, electronic speed controllers (ESCs), FPV cameras, cold-weather ground control stations, guided aerial resupply systems, air-launched effects, and avalanche mitigation solutions for commercial and government customers. In 2026, AVSS also introduced the Flying Beehive product line, which adds air-launched FPV capability and further expands its component catalogue.

The export profile behind the production surge is notable: AVSS self-identifies as the largest Canadian exporter of drone components and solutions, with approximately 75% of its commercial revenue year-to-date generated from international markets, and products operating in more than 20 countries. The distribution network spans more than 70 authorised partners worldwide — a channel built entirely around Canadian-manufactured and Canadian-owned intellectual property.

That IP-ownership posture is a deliberate strategic choice, not an incidental one. CEO Josh Ogden has consistently argued that keeping product development, engineering, manufacturing, testing, and quality assurance in Canada — rather than licensing foreign technologies or outsourcing assembly — is the only path to durable export competitiveness. AVSS devotes more than 60% of its annual budget to research and development, a ratio that is exceptional even by aerospace standards, and employs roughly 35 people, most of them engineers, technicians, or production staff.

The regulatory credibility underpinning that commercial reach is equally significant. AVSS parachute recovery systems are the only such systems to have their own dedicated Means of Compliance (MOC) listed on the FAA's approved-systems register for flight-over-people operations — a distinction that covers both Category 2 and Category 3 operations. The company has completed ten ASTM F3322 parachute-compliance certifications across the DJI enterprise drone family, from the legacy M200 series through to the Matrice 4 and DJI Dock 3. Complementary approvals from EASA (MOC 2511 and MOC 2512) and Transport Canada extend that regulatory footprint into the European and domestic Canadian markets respectively.

Beyond the PRS core, AVSS's most technically ambitious recent programme is the Precision Avalanche Management System (PAMS), announced in 2025 and live-tested in February and March 2026 inside Jasper National Park, Alberta. The PAMS system pairs autonomous flight-planning software with a consumable munition called SnowDart to trigger controlled avalanches in predetermined start zones — replacing helicopter drops and WWII-era artillery in environments where neither can safely operate. Transport Canada issued AVSS a nationwide Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) for the system in August 2025. The Jasper field trials were conducted in collaboration with Parks Canada, Transport Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada, and the Department of National Defence through the Innovative Solutions Canada programme.

Technical Breakdown

Product classes manufactured:

• Parachute Recovery Systems (PRS): ASTM F3322-18-compliant retrofit systems for multiple DJI enterprise platforms (M200, M300 RTK, M350 RTK, Mavic 3 Enterprise/Thermal, M30, M3D/M3TD for Dock 2, M4D/M4TD for Dock 3, Matrice 400). Each system integrates an automatic triggering system, flight termination capability, and manual deployment backup.
• Independent Flight Termination Systems (FTS): Standalone systems providing redundant safety assurance for BVLOS and over-people operations.
• Guided Aerial Resupply Systems: GPS-guided delivery hardware enabling precision payload drop in terrain where fixed-wing, rotary-wing, or ground access is not feasible. Autonomous algorithms monitor flight in real time, detect anomalies, and guide payloads to pre-designated safe zones.
• Precision Avalanche Management System (PAMS) / SnowDart: Drone-deliverable energetic devices paired with autonomous flight-planning and data-collection software. System performs surface-level and air blasts; post-event analytics software quantifies blast effectiveness for operator review.
• Flying Beehive (2026): Air-launched FPV system; accompanied by an expanded component line including motors, ESCs, FPV cameras, and cold-weather ground control stations.

Regulatory certifications held:

• ASTM F3322-18 (10 completed compliance tests across the DJI enterprise family)
• FAA Category 2 and Category 3 Declarations of Compliance (flight over people, no waiver required)
• EASA MOC 2511 and MOC 2512
• Transport Canada BVLOS Special Flight Operations Certificates
• Transport Canada nationwide SFOC for PAMS (issued August 2025)

Manufacturing model: 100% Canadian — design, engineering, manufacturing, testing, and QA conducted domestically. Parachute canopies are sewn in-house. Additive manufacturing used for rapid prototyping; injection moulding used for series production components.

R&D intensity: >60% of annual budget allocated to research and development.

Distribution: 70+ authorised global partners; direct sales to OEM drone manufacturers.

Industry Impact

For manufacturers and OEMs: AVSS's 2,000-unit milestone, achieved with several months of the fiscal year still remaining, signals that demand for retrofit compliance hardware — parachute systems, FTS, and guided delivery — is expanding meaningfully beyond early-adopter volumes. OEMs integrating AVSS systems gain multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance (FAA, EASA, Transport Canada) from a single vendor, reducing the certification burden of expanding into new national markets.

For operators: The breadth of ASTM F3322 completions across the DJI enterprise catalogue means that most commercial operators already running DJI hardware have a clear, tested route to over-people and BVLOS compliance without platform replacement. The FAA's Category 2 and 3 DOC approvals for the DJI Dock 2 + AVSS PRS-M3DT combination, for example, remove the need for 107.39 waivers — a significant operational simplification for infrastructure inspection, last-mile delivery, and public safety drone-in-a-box deployments.

For regulators: AVSS's sustained ASTM and multi-authority testing cadence provides regulators with real-world performance data across a wide range of platform configurations and environmental conditions. The PAMS programme in particular — conducted under a Transport Canada SFOC and validated inside a national park — demonstrates a model for iterative regulatory engagement on novel drone operations involving energetic payloads.

For investors and the broader Canadian drone ecosystem: The 75% international revenue share and the self-described position as Canada's largest drone component exporter establish AVSS as a proof case that full-stack domestic IP ownership can underwrite commercial scale in a global market otherwise dominated by foreign-manufactured platforms. The company's publication of the Canadian Defence Tech Market Map (now in its 2026 edition, cataloguing over 290 Canadian defence and dual-use companies) also positions it as an ecosystem convenor — a role that typically amplifies commercial relationships across the supply chain.

For integrators: The 2026 Flying Beehive product line and expanded component catalogue (motors, ESCs, FPV cameras, cold-weather GCS) indicate AVSS is moving from a retrofit-hardware vendor toward a broader component supplier. Integrators building custom platforms or drone-in-a-box solutions now have a Canadian-sourced, compliance-validated option for core drivetrain and safety components — relevant wherever supply-chain provenance and regulatory documentation are customer requirements.