Unmanned aircraft system (UAS) maintenance network Robotic Skies is set to expand, the company said. With a round of venture capital financing raised, Robotic Skies is preparing to meet anticipated growth in the drone market.

The investment round was led by Kickstart Seed Fund of Salt Lake City, Utah, and included participation by Sun Mountain Capital of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Robotic Skies said.

"Brad Hayden has a lifetime of experience in the aviation sector and understands the changing landscape and the opportunity that lies ahead in the global UAS market," said Lee Rand, partner at Sun Mountain Capital.

Hayden, Robotic Skies President and CEO, has been sharing his perspective on the UAS market with the rotorcraft industry for several years, in cooperation with organizations including Helicopter Association International (HAI) and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). He will be answering questions about technologies hurdles to drone market development at R&WI’s Rotorcraft Business and Technology Summit in Fort Worth, Texas, in September, on a panel with two other UAS experts.

“As we’ve said all along, the UAS market is not an entirely new industry, but rather a nascent and rapidly expanding market segment of aerospace,” Hayden told R&WI. “The same safety-based paradigms that form the basis for existing manned airborne missions are now being recognized as critical in unmanned operations.

"As unmanned mission complexities increase to beyond-line-of-sight and flights over people — and as the airframes themselves grow larger in size — the importance of verified airworthiness will become even more critical," he continued. "Fortunately, our industry has an aviation ecosystem for safety and efficiency already in place to support these unmanned airframes, and Robotic Skies is uniting these services under a single product offering for this new market.”