Jon Damush Appointed uAvionix CEO

Founded in 2015 with the mission of advancing the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the United States’s National Airspace System (NAS), Montana-based uAvionix develops small, light, affordable ADS-B transponders.

A fundamental aspect of the company’s mission is the facilitation of common situational awareness to all aircraft within a given airspace. uAvionix provides innovative, low-Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) TSO-certified and uncertified avionics and services to customers in the General Aviation (GA), Defense, and UAS sectors.

On 24 October 2023, uAvionix announced it had acquired Iris Automation, a Reno, Nevada-based concern specializing in small-form-factor, flexible, and cost-effective end-of-line automation solutions; and a provider of optical Detect And Avoid (DAA) technology. The acquisition occasions a synthesis of uAvionix’s extensive Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) and aviation expertise and Iris’ leadership in computer vision-based systems germane to the safe separation of aircraft.

In addition to bolstering uAvionix’s capabilities and broadening the scope of its services, the acquisition marks an important leadership change as former Iris Automation boss Jon Damush is hoisted to the lofty station of uAvionix Corporation’s CEO.

uAvionix founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Paul Beard set forth: “The combination of Iris Automation’s and uAvionix’s capabilities provides for a multi-layered-safety architecture that supports integration of UAS into the National Airspace System. Through our collective efforts, we are solving the two biggest technical challenges to UAS integration: Command and Control and Detect and Avoid.  Solving these problems builds safer airspace for all users.”

By virtue of its considerable facility with avionics development and certification in crewed, uncrewed, and defense technologies, uAvionix has long provided innovative and cost-effective products and services conducive to cooperative communication and awareness for all airspace users. Iris Automation’s pioneering airborne and ground-based optical systems deliver non-cooperative situational awareness for the integration of crewed and uncrewed aircraft. The sum of the two companies’ capabilities favorably position uAvionix to provide aviators the certified avionics, aviation data, and safety solutions upon which fully integrated airspaces are predicated.

Jon Damush’s thirty-years of aviation technology experience stands to significantly benefit uAvionix. His background in engineering for crewed and uncrewed aviation, software development, and systems integration underscores his fitness for the office to which he’s been appointed.

DC Capital Partners partner David Page remarked: “Jon Damush’s appointment as CEO hits all the right marks for uAvionix. His exceptional background and vision complement an already strong leadership team at uAvionix and aligns perfectly with the uAvionix mission to lead the way in advancing aviation safety and efficiency. The addition of Iris’s optical capabilities with existing uAvionix solutions further cements our market position within BVLOS operations.”

FMI: www.uavionix.com