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St. Louis native and co-founder of aerospace startup WingXpand, James Barbieri has invented and patented a seven-foot expandable drone designed to fit inside a backpack. WingXpand beat out more than 750 companies to win the Army's xTechSearch 7 competition and has secured $2 million in contracts in its first year.

St. Louis startup WingXpand, which has developed an expandable drone designed to fit inside a backpack, has moved its headquarters to Ranken Technical College and formed a workforce partnership with the education institution.

WingXpand and Ranken Technical College announce a partnership to expand Missouri’s aerospace manufacturing workforce, giving students the opportunity to immerse themselves in the rapidly growing field of drone technology. This comes as the U.S. Department of Defense unveils a new plan to bolster the industrial base.

WingXpand wins 7-figure U.S. AirForce contract to ruggedize 7ft pack packable drone, and develop fire-spotting software.

WingXpand has debuted a 7-foot expandable-wing drone that fits in a backpack. The drone was first revealed to the special forces community at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC 2022) held May 16-19 in Tampa, Florida.

The drone model from WingXpand, which debuted at the AUVSI XPONENTIAL event in April, features a 7-foot wingspan. The wings are expandable, so the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) can collapse into a size small enough to fit into a backpack. The drone was also featured at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference 2022 (SOFIC) last week.