Teal 2
A 1.25 kg night-reconnaissance quadcopter on the Blue UAS list, bought by Border Patrol and Air Force security units. DHS scored it lowest of five cleared drones in 2024, and its maker is now selling a successor.
- Weight
- 1.25 kg (2.75 lb)
- Flight time
- 30+ min
- Price
- $15,073
- Launched
- Apr 26, 2023
- Made by
- Red Cat Holdings
Where to buyGovernment procurement; Red Cat quotes on request
The Teal 2 is a small military and government quadcopter built in Salt Lake City by Teal Drones, a Red Cat Holdings subsidiary. It weighs 1.25 kg, carries a Teledyne FLIR thermal and daylight camera, and was the first small drone to fly FLIR’s Hadron 640R sensor. Red Cat launched it on 26 April 2023 and markets it for night work.
It has been on the Pentagon’s Blue UAS Cleared List since June 2023, according to Red Cat. The Department of Homeland Security recorded a GSA price of $15,073 in its 2025 assessment of cleared drones.
Specifications
| Specification | Teal 2 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 1.25 kg / 2.75 lb |
| Flight time | 30+ minutes, sea-level standard atmosphere |
| Max speed | 10 m/s / 23 mph |
| Ceiling | 3,048 m / 10,000 ft above sea level |
| Wind | 29 km/h sustained, gusts to 40 km/h |
| Range | 5 km from the controller |
| Operating temperature | −35.6 °C to 43.3 °C (−32 °F to 110 °F) |
| Datalink | Microhard, 1.8 GHz or 2.4 GHz, AES-256 encrypted |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 |
| Autopilot | PX4, MAVLink compliant; Teal’s Android controller |
| Obstacle avoidance | None published |
| Country of manufacture | United States |
Camera
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Payload | Teledyne FLIR Hadron 640R, two-axis gimbal |
| Daylight sensor | 16 MP, 67° horizontal field of view |
| Thermal sensor | Boson 640, radiometric, 640 × 512 at 30 Hz, 32° field of view |
| Gimbal pitch | −120° to +120° |
All figures are Teal’s published specifications, checked against its product page and product sheet on 29 September 2026. FlightBrief has not flown the aircraft.
The manual is more cautious than the brochure. Teal’s July 2023 operator’s manual gives up to 25 minutes of flight and 3 to 3.5 km of range, depending on the radio band. It also sets 0 °F as the lower limit on its pre-flight checklist, and batteries must be pre-heated below freezing. Teal publishes no dimensions and no ingress rating for the aircraft.
Contracts
US Customs and Border Protection was an early buyer: 54 units in October 2022, then 106 in September 2023 for $1.8 million, under a five-vendor Border Patrol agreement. The US Air Force ordered 172 for its Security Forces in August 2023, a $2.6 million order through the Defense Logistics Agency. Two NATO countries, which Red Cat did not name, ordered $2.5 million of systems in March 2024.
Market Context
DHS tested the Teal 2 against four other cleared drones in Miami in November 2024. It scored 2.7 out of 5 overall, the lowest of the five, and lowest for daylight image quality, video latency and link reliability, with lost connections when something blocked the line of sight. It scored best on maintainability.
Red Cat’s newer Black Widow won the US Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance programme in November 2024. On 30 July 2026 the Air Force Security Forces Center, one of the Teal 2’s first military customers, ordered $2.49 million of Black Widows to assess as the Teal 2’s successor. The Teal 2 stays on sale, by quote, and the Blue UAS Cleared List guide sets out the other cleared options.
Compared
| Specification | Teal 2 | Black Widow | Black Hornet 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 1.25 kg (2.75 lb) | 1.93 kg (4.26 lb) | 70 g aircraft; 1.3 kg system |
| Flight time | 30+ min | 45+ min | 30+ min |
| Price | $15,073 | On request | Contract only |
| Where to buy | Government procurement; Red Cat quotes on request | Government procurement; Red Cat quotes on request | Government contract; Teledyne FLIR direct |
| Launched | Apr 26, 2023 | — | Oct 10, 2023 |
Figures are the manufacturers' published specifications, as on each product's page.