Nate Ernst, Founder and President of The Tactien Group, has joined the 2026 Energy Drone & Robotics Coalition Advisory Board — bringing independent UAS advisory expertise across Group 1-4 operations, BVLOS, C-UAS validation, and critical infrastructure program development to the coalition's end-user focused board.

Most Counter-UAS buying decisions rest on vendor spec sheets, not proof. Systems that dominate a scripted demo often fall apart against the threats that matter at a live site. Tactien runs the truth test: independent, vendor-neutral field validation that measures detection, tracking, and mitigation under the conditions your facility actually faces, so you fund what works instead of what sells.

Most utility drone programs scale faster than their paperwork. Pilots fly and data piles up, but the SOPs, Safety Management System, and CONOPS that turn a stack of flights into a defensible aviation operation lag behind. Tactien builds that backbone to aviation standards, so a utility's UAS program can move toward BVLOS, scale across regions, and hold up to regulatory and internal audit.

Tactien President Nate Ernst takes the stage at the Energy Drone & Robotics Forum for "What's Now & Next in BVLOS for Energy," a working session on where beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations actually stand for utilities and where FAA Part 108 takes them next. Expect a practitioner's read: what's flying today, what's stuck in waivers, and what energy operators should build now to be ready for the next regulatory stage.

Buy the wrong drone and you find out in the field, after the budget's spent. Most platform decisions get made off a spec sheet and a vendor demo, not against the mission, the site, or the regulatory path the operator actually has to fly. Tactien's vetting, validation, and selection process tests platforms on proof and mission fit, independent of any OEM, so critical infrastructure operators commit to aircraft that hold up where it counts.

TACTIEN (TACT-tee-in) Latin: To approach with a tactical or methodical mindset. The commercial UAS industry has matured in ways...