industry aerospace founded 1991 headquarters salem ohio united states key people president shawn theiss vice president richard theiss products kit aircraft uavs website www.theissaviation.com theiss aviation is an american aircraft manufacturer based in salem ohio . the company specializes in the design and manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles and at one time produced ultralight aircraft in the form of kits for amateur construction . 1 2 the president is shawn theiss and vice president is richard theiss . the chief test pilot is thomas zets . 3 contents 1 history 2 aircraft 3 references 4 external links history edit the company was formed in 1991 to produce ultralight aircraft kits using a new inexpensive light weight construction technique . the company produced two 1930s style replica designs for the homebuit market the theiss speedster and the theiss sportster which was introduced in 1998 . 1 2 as a result of these designs in 1998 the company was approached by the head of the tactical electronic warfare division s offboard countermeasures vehicle research section united states naval research laboratory to produce uavs for the us navy . this resulted in the design of the theiss tarzan which entered naval service as the dakota ii . 2 the company stopped working on manned general aviation aircraft to concentrate entirely on uavs . the company produces a series of uavs including the theiss nirv nature inspired reconnaissance vehicle that is designed to resemble a soaring bird to conduct covert reconnaissance in urban and rural areas with models that resemble a vulture gull and hawk . the company also designs custom uavs for customers . 2 4 5 aircraft edit summary of aircraft built by theiss aviation model name first flight number built type theiss speedster at least two single seat ultralight biplane theiss sportster 1998 at least one single seat ultralight biplane theiss tarzan 1998 uav theiss nirv small bird like uav theiss ferret small uav theiss super ferret small uav theiss tic micro uav references edit a b purdy don aerocrafter homebuilt aircraft sourcebook fifth edition page 360 . bai communications 15 july 1998 . isbn 0 9636409 4 1 a b c d theiss aviation history . theiss aviation . retrieved 5 may 2015 . theiss aviation contact . theiss aviation . retrieved 5 may 2015 . theiss aviation uav unmanned aerial vehicle nirv . theiss aviation . retrieved 5 may 2015 . theiss aviation custom design and fabrication . theiss aviation . retrieved 5 may 2015 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title theiss aviation & oldid 668340612 categories aircraft manufacturers of the united stateshomebuilt aircraftunmanned aerial vehicles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 23 june 2015 at 19 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view