The Finnish company Kelluu Oy, specializing in environmental data collection with airships, is one of 75 companies chosen for the NATO DIANA Program 2025. The company claims it is the world’s largest airship fleet. Kelluu Oy is based in Finland.
Terrafame, a Finnish responsible battery chemicals producer for electric vehicles, has selected Kelluu to provide accurate and geo-referenced terrain data for continuously monitoring its 60 km² industrial site in Finland.
Based in Joensuu, easter Finland, Kelluu, operates in a niche between drones and aircraft. The former has a short flight time, while the latter are expensive, environmentally harmful and fly above the clouds.
The Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) aims to discover new technological solutions for defense and security through collaboration with companies. The program is designed for startups and SMEs developing dual-use technologies—products or services that support both defense and civilian markets. DIANA provides resources, networks, and support from experts and investors to aid in development.
Kelluu’s hydrogen-powered airship, mounted with several spectral cameras, sensors, and scanners, gives Terrafame an accurate and dynamic 3D digital twin of its 60 km² industrial production site in Finland.
What Kelluu actually does is imaging, and instead of flying people from place to place, Kelluu’s airships photograph the Earth. With state-of-the-art cameras, they can capture incredibly detailed photographs of a wide area.
*********************************************
Related: Poland Buys 2 Swedish Airborne Surveillance Systems
*********************************************
“With just five of our airships, we are able to photograph the entity of Germany with a level of accuracy that no satellite can match,” says Janne Hietale, CEO of Kelluu Oy and continues, “With NATO’s support, we can push our technology further alongside professionals who demand the best. A changing world needs companies like Kelluu to enhance both security and societies, and this collaboration with NATO is a great example.”
The combination of high-resolution RGB, multispectral, and Flir images, combined with the same 3D mesh, is a fascinating tool, especially in a heap leaching and open pit slope stability modelling.
**************************************
Related: Denmark’s Fight Against Bank Robberies Has Succeeded
**************************************
In addition, the cameras can provide hyperspectral imaging, which its clients can use in monitoring metrics such as humidity and temperature. The images can also be used to construct detailed 3D maps, or what the company calls “digital twins”. Clients are diverse and range from forestry companies that are keeping an eye on the health of the land and power companies monitoring the state of its lines in remote locations to urban planners, who need to know how the traffic is flowing.
Kelluu’s airships are highly efficient, emitting 99.5% fewer CO2 emissions than traditional aerial monitoring, and frequently cover mission times of over 12 hours. The airships are effectively operational in subzero temperatures. Kelluu’s facility in Finland is the only airship factory and product development laboratory in Northern Europe.
The World’s Largest Airship Fleet – in Finland, Tor Kjolberg reporting
All images © Kelluu Oy