Drone delivery tech firm Skye Air and the Department of Information Technology, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh are getting into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable and promote medical and agricultural commodity deliveries within the state.
As a part of the strategic partnership, Skye Air has initiated a three-day-long BVLOS trial in the Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, to connect over six PHC/CHCs and the area hospitals via multiple flights between points covering an aerial distance of 170 km throughout the trial. The drone delivery tech firm uses a UAV, Skye Ship One, to facilitate real-time deliveries of vaccines and medicines within a specified temperature range of two to eight degrees Celsius. There will be several reverse logistic flights, which shall help with adopting drone technology, to enable cost-effective deliveries within the state.
The flights, equipped with consignments of medical supplies, flew beyond an altitude of 400 feet above ground level in a designated green zone of Chamba. The flights took place at three air corridors - Chaned, Tissa and Mehla demonstrating the diversity of Skye Ship One adopting different temperature zones, steep mountain ranges and air-pockets.
On occasion, Mukesh Repaswal, Director, Department of Information Technology, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, said, "The use of drones can be a critical intervention in improving the ease of access to services in mountainous and remote regions of Himachal Pradesh. The demonstration in Chamba will help ascertain the advantages of drone use in medicine delivery and the benefits of drone-enabled governance. We look forward to the successful conduct of the BVLOS trials in Chamba and further collaboration with Skye Air to expand the drone-based delivery ecosystem in Himachal Pradesh to medical and agri-commodity deliveries."
Commenting on the association, Swapnik Jakkampundi, Co-founder, Skye Air, said, "As a beginning, we shall be conducting around 25 flights during the trial phase taking up hard weather and terrain challenges. In the coming months, we shall be able to directly benefit over 5.19 lakh people by better healthcare accessibility and creating local employment in the drone delivery ecosystem."
Skye Air recently also made the news for delivering India's first agri-commodity via drones in Meghalaya, enabling 1st-mile logistics for farmers.
