Air medical service provider Spright orders Wingcopter drones

Air medical service provider Spright is purchasing drones from Wingcopter to provide delivery solutions in the US in a deal worth $16m.

The deal will see Spright buy a “large fleet” of the Wingcopter 198 drone, which has a 6kg capacity and 110km range, to meet the “increasing demand” for medical drone delivery solutions throughout the US.

The companies would not disclose the exact number of drones included in the deal.

Spright is creating a drone-based, healthcare-specific delivery network in the US “leveraging an existing infrastructure of more than 300 bases”, serving hundreds of hospitals, across 48 states in predominantly rural areas.

The company is collaborating with Hutchinson Regional Health System, in Hutchinson, Kansas, for initial tests, and plans to expand the service beyond Kansas with additional strategic medical projects later this year.

“The Wingcopter fleet will increase healthcare access across rural and underserved communities by enabling the instant and on-demand delivery of vital medical supplies, medications, vaccines, blood, and lab samples, between medical facilities,” the partners said.

“It will also improve quality of care for patients due to faster turn-around time of lab samples and more targeted treatments for patients. Finally, the electrically powered Wingcopter cargo drones will reduce the medical industry’s carbon footprint, contributing to greener and more sustainable supply chains with faster and more predictable delivery times.”

The contract makes Wingcopter the exclusive provider of fixed wing electric vertical take-off and landing delivery drone technology to Spright for use within its US operations. Spright, in turn, becomes the exclusive provider of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) for the Wingcopter 198 to third parties in the US. aircargonews.net