Tactien 2025 Year-end Review: A defining year for Utility Aviation Tech & Infrastructure

As the utility and critical-infrastructure landscape continues to evolve, 2025 emerged as a year defined by one word: clarity. The sector shifted decisively toward solutions that perform for them—not those built on claims and enamoration.

This year’s Tactien Year-End Review captures the trends, accomplishments, and insights that shaped that shift, and highlights where the industry is headed in 2026 and beyond. The full briefing is available within this publication as a downloadable .pdf report file.

The report highlights:

• Industry Trends: What Shifted in 2025

  • Larger UAS Adoption—Only When the Math Works

  • Widening gap between OEM capability and Utility needs

  • Manned + Unmanned: Not Either/Or

  • Declining Viability of Chinese-Manufactured UAS

  • Internal SAAS Development—Software Arbitrage

• Tactien Accomplishment Highlights

  • UAS Program Assessment & Path Forward 

  • Counter-UAS testing and validation 

  • sUAS SOP development for Substations

  • Part 91 operations stand-up

  • Helicopter & Fixed Wing LiDAR Flight Ops Management

  • BVLOS fixed-wing crew training 

  • Part 108 NPRM advisory support

• Predictions for 2026

  • Consolidation of Drone Service Providers (DSPs)

  • Chinese UAS viability collapse

  • Hard lessons learned in internal SAAS development

  • More mature understanding of AI’s strengths and limitations.

Download the full report here ↓

2025 End of Year Newsletter.pdf

Download PDF • 4.15MB

Looking Ahead

2025 pushed operators to demand more transparency, reliability, and measurable outcomes from their aviation partners.Tactien’s commitment heading into 2026 remains unchanged:Deliver grounded, unbiased, operationally sound guidance that helps operators make informed decisions with real impact.

We look forward to working alongside utilities, infrastructure operators, technology partners, and collaborators in the year ahead—helping shape capability, enable safe operations, and advance the next era of aviation for critical infrastructure.