ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The newest tenant at the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub in St. Petersburg is a company called SubUAS, which has created an innovative drone that can seamlessly transition from air to water.

What You Need To Know

SubUAS has created a drone that can seamlessly transition from air to water

It’s the first drone in the world with those capabilities, according to contract manager Andrew Bennett

The New Jersey based company opened its first oupost at the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub in St. Petersburg 

SubUAS will be introduced to the community at the State of Science and Innovation event at USF St. Pete on Jan. 28

“A drone that can swim and fly,” said Andrew Bennett, SubUAS contract manager. “It’s the first one in the world to actually do this.”

The name of the company stands for submarine unmanned aerial submersible. Bennett said the drone has been designed to operate in rough conditions.

“To have the speed that a propeller needs to spin at to fly with payload, and then go underwater,” he said. “This is rated at seawater, maritime, hostile environment, saltwater, corrosive, so you’ve gotta put all that stuff together. That’s a hard, hard thing to do.”

Dr. Javier Diaz, a professor at Rutgers University, developed the innovative technology. The drones are manufactured and assembled in New Jersey. SubUAS opened its first outpost at the Hub last November.

“The Hub here in St. Pete serves a unique, unique space for us,” Bennett said. “Not just from a networking standpoint but also from a proof of concept standpoint.”

Bennett said the company chose the Hub because of its proximity to MacDill Air Force Base, the U.S. Coast Guard and USF College of Marine Science. SubUAS has earned nearly $16 million in defense contracts since 2016.

“So the military did their investments, multiple agencies did their investments,” said Bennett. “We have the thing, and it’s out in the field doing great missions right now. Can’t really talk about those.”

Bennett said the drones are dual use with commercial capabilities. For example, search and rescue, checking oil rigs and port security.

St. Pete Innovation District COO Lauren Bell said they were so excited to get SubUAS as a tenant that a lease was executed the same day the company inquired about moving to the area.

“They have some state of the art tech that nobody else is doing and they’re genuinely good people,” she said. “We want that as an add to our community.”  

Bennett said the company plans to expand and wants to stay at the Hub for as long as possible.

“We’re going to be here. I mean, it makes too much sense for us to be here. Our customer base is here,” he said. “We’ve got a beautiful location to actually show the technology and the capabilities, and we’ve got the workspace to actually expand our manufacturing capabilities.” 

The community will be formally introduced to SubUAS at the State of Science and Innovation event at USF St. Pete on Jan. 28.