UK Funds Future Flight Drone, AAM Projects
Heavy-lift drone logistics and medical delivery services are among 14 projects selected to receive £4.4 million ($5.9 million) in UK government funding under the Future Flight Program.
The demonstration of an advanced air mobility (AAM) corridor for eVTOL aircraft is also planned.
Under the Beyond Restoration project, agricultural drone operator Autospray Systems, with the National Trust and other conservation agencies, plans to use long-range heavy-lift UAVs to apply lime, seeds, fertilizer and tree seeds across remote and ecologically significant sites.
The Album project will test a large UAV in beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations to provide logistics and medical transport in remote areas such as the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The project is a step toward commercialization of ARC Aerosystems’ 100-kg-payload, 400-km-range cargo drone.
Another project, led by Apian with Matternet UK, will scale up the existing London Health Bridge drone delivery service to 50,000 medical sample deliveries per month from 1,000. Additionally, the Dragon’s Heart project, led by Snowdonia Aerospace, will build the Welsh Drone Delivery Network.
Other drone-related projects include Containment with Confidence to help National Gas monitor its pipelines by replacing periodic helicopter inspections with a more efficient drone-based system. Drone as a First Responder will work with the police to develop automated drone systems to improve the safety and speed of emergency response and public safety operations.
Another project will work with Network Rail to create a structured approach to deploying drones to improve incident management and asset inspection across the rail system. A project led by Volant Autonomy with Snowdonia Aerospace will demonstrate an integrated traffic management system.
The Future Flight Program is also funding a series of regional demonstrator projects, including the OXCAM Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Corridor. Involving Skyports Infrastructure, Bristow Helicopters, Vertical Aerospace and air navigation service provider NATS, the project aims to demonstrate a corridor for commercial cargo and passenger eVTOL operations between Oxford and Cambridge.
A project led by Flowcopter and AYR Logistics plans to demonstrate the use of a heavy-lift drone for logistics and maintenance at offshore wind farms. The Future Air–Southwest project led by Daedal Research with Isles of Scilly Skybus aims to overcome obstacles to commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft use.
Project Rescue with Somerset Council plans to develop a drone-based service for environmental monitoring to enable rapid response to critical weather events. Project Urban Ascent with Coventry City Council aims to develop a scalable plan for integrating drones and eVTOLs into UK cities.
The Future Flight Program will also fund continuation of the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) project. Led by the Highland and Islands Transport Partnership and involving a wide range of drone and zero-emission aircraft developers, the project aims to develop a regional sustainable aviation strategy outlining a road map for putting new technologies into service.
