Honeywell has announced the formation of the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) business unit for the growing UAS and urban air mobility (UAM) industries.

Leveraging Honeywell’s technology, software, services and certification expertise, the new business unit will be able to meet customers’ needs in these emerging markets.

The UAS business unit has its own engineering and sales resources and will focus on the development of new products and services for these markets.

It will also act as a systems integrator for all the Honeywell products and services that could be used in the industry.

The offerings include aircraft systems such as avionics, electric and hybrid-electric propulsion, and thermal management.

Flight services such as unmanned air traffic management, and ground operations services that include predictive aircraft maintenance analytics are also part of the portfolio.

The UAS business will also serve as a single point of contact for new aircraft designers or operators to easily do business with Honeywell.

Honeywell Aerospace president and CEO Mike Madsen said: “UAM and UAS will play an increasing role in the future of aerospace, with potential applications in all-electric urban air taxi vehicles, hybrid-electric unmanned cargo drones, optionally piloted airplanes, delivery drones and everything in between.”

Set to further expand Honeywell’s growing portfolio of UAM solutions, the new business unit is focused on software development, driving rapid development and testing of new products.

These products include ‘fly-by-wire’ autopilot system, detect-and-avoid algorithms and artificial intelligence software.

UAS business unit vice-president and general manager Stéphane Fymat said: “By forming this new organisation, we will be able to harness the power of our engineering resources and know-how to transform urban air taxis, drone delivery of parcels and all forms of autonomous flight from a future vision into an everyday reality.”