Vaccine drone delivery trials set to start in Telangana today

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 Blue Dart 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. 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."