Quicksilver partners with IDENT to produce surveillance aircraft

TEMECULA, Calif. — Quicksilver Aeronautics has joined forces with IDENT LLC of Jacksonville, Florida, in a strategic partnership to produce a fleet of GT500 surveillance and intelligence gathering aircraft.

“This partnership will result in allowing the very agile GT500 aircraft to perform persistent, rapid response, wide-area surveillance missions that have traditionally been assigned to large, expensive-to-operate aircraft,” said IDENT LLC co-founder Richard McCreight.

Based on the recreational GT500 that was the very first model to achieve FAA Primary Category approval in 1993, IDENT’s GT500 Mosquito first flew 26 years ago. The design has seen continuous improvements, including GPS flight controls, forensics imaging technologies and data telemetry elements, company officials said.

Operating from remote areas ranging from the tropics to the sub-Arctic, the GT500 can perform a variety of missions carrying various payloads, officials note. IDENT GT500s have logged 7,650 flight hours in support of programs funded by NASA, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and others.

“There is an outstanding level of cooperation and strategic alignment between IDENT and Quicksilver. Both companies complement each other nicely so the partnership is able to deliver a fully integrated solution,” said Will Escutia, president of Quicksilver Aeronautics. “We are extremely pleased to work with IDENT.”

Quicksilver Aeronautics builds the MX series including the Sprint, Sprint II, Sport, Sport II, Sport 2S and the GT series including the single seat GT 400 and the two place GT 500. The GT 500 is the first aircraft approved by FAA under the Primary Aircraft category (1993). Quicksilver has dealers throughout the world with thousands flying in nearly 100 countries.

For more information: QuickSilverAircraft.com