North Dakota, Florida firms to build drones for aerial videos, photos

A Florida drone company will start building small unmanned aircraft in North Dakota.

Altavian Inc., based in Gainesville, has formed a partnership with a ComDel Innovation Inc., a Wahpeton, N.D., manufacturing company to build small drones for aerial mapping, video and photos. The drones will be used in agriculture, construction and conservation.

"We've cut our teeth in the swamps of Florida and the Everglades and Mississippi," said Thomas Rambo, Altavian's chief operating officer. "This will be the first time we've come up in the cold and taken a stab at it."

Over the next two years, Altavian plans to hire 10 to 20 new employees to build what Rambo describes as "a rugged product."

Drone business expansion has slowed because of delays in federal rules for using the small remote control aircraft. But earlier this week, the Federal Aviation Administration relaxed drone flight restrictions for drone test flights in North Dakota.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple expects the new enterprise will be the first of many unmanned aircraft system businesses to locate in the state, which is home to one of six national unmanned aircraft test sites.