Drone delivery trials in Telangana

Hyderabad: The much-awaited drone delivery trials for delivery of medicines and vaccines will be held in Vikarabad and Hyderabad from Thursday. The trials will continue till October 17. Skye Air has joined hands with BlueDart Express to provide drone based delivery and drone flights to conduct these trials. Skye Air focuses on an end-to-end ecosystem for drone based logistic transportation.

Telangana will become the first State to start trials of Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for delivery of Covid-19 vaccines. Indian drone delivery startup firm Skye Air Mobility which is a part of the consortium for State government's ambitious project Medicines from the sky (MFTS) will conduct the majority of drone flights. Telangana government is exploring the scope of delivery of medicines through drones across the State. Skye Air is a licensed company which is compliant with aviation safety norms and well aware of risk mitigation measures in case of emergencies. As per the Expression on Interest, the company will have two certified remote pilots who have been specifically trained for the BVLOS trials during the project.

MFTS Project's first two days of the trials will be flying in the visual line of sight, which involves drones flying between 500 to 700 meters from the base and they can be seen with the naked eye. From September 11 onwards BVLOS drone flights will take place for 9 -10 km distances. These flights will be with consignments of vaccine, medical samples and other healthcare items.

Balfour Manuel, Managing Director of Blue Dart, says: "Our battle against Covid-19 continues to unfold with new challenges that need solutions in real-time. The pandemic has taught each one of us the importance of logistics and the need for a tech-led supply chain infrastructure. As an organisation Blue Dart has always immersed itself with the technology of the future."

"India rolled out a nationwide vaccination campaign that has administered over 70 crore vaccine doses so far. While the nation is focusing on achieving 100 per cent vaccination, the current situation calls for a much deeper penetration of vaccines, especially in the remote areas. Delivery of vaccination through drones would be a stepping stone to achieve this goal," he said.