Rain and Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, have tested the response and water dropping capabilities of an optionally-piloted BLACK HAWK® helicopter to fight wildfires.

Rain & Sikorsky collaborate to advance rapid response capabilities for aerial wildland firefighting, rapidly responding to early-stage wildfires by launching uncrewed helicopters to drop water on wildfires within minutes of detection.

Rain, a startup building aerial fire fighting tech, has closed a seed round of $9.7 million led by DBL Partners, the company tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Wildfires are a massive and growing climate problem across the globe and fire agencies need better tools to more rapidly stop them.

In a fire-filled era, we’re as vulnerable—and as strong—as our neighbors.

“We have to harness industry-agency collaboration. Ten years from idea to application—we don’t have that kind of time anymore.”
—Chief Kate Dargan Marquis

It's #firepreparedness week, and here at Rain we've been studying (and applauding) #goodfire.

Rain flies remotely-commanded Black Hawk helicopter, demonstrating goal of suppressing fires automatically from afar.

Last night we hosted a small(ish) Tower Warming Party to thank people who helped us get to where we are now—which is the former air traffic control tower on the retired naval air station in Alameda, CA.

Fall 2022 Test Campaign Results

Our mission at Rain is to fight climate change and help firefighters save lives and protect property by developing autonomous firefighting aircraft.