Swoop Aero secures $1.8m in Federal Government funding for the world’s largest integrated drone logistics network
26 October 2022, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Swoop Aero has secured Federal Government funding to build upon their existing operations in Southern Queensland and deploy the world’s largest integrated drone logistics network.
The network will have a full service coverage of more than 175,000 square kilometres, with the ability to extend services over more than 400,000 square kilometres. Swoop Aero will deliver a range of essential supplies and services, including medical transport, search and rescue, environmental monitoring and mapping, and general delivery.
The accelerated scale-up has been funded via the Federal Government’s EATP Program and with supporting service interest from a range of commercial partners, including Darling Downs Health Services, EBOS Group Ltd, UPS, Mater Group, Pathology Queensland, Midnight Health, Goondir Indigenous Health Services Corporation, Lucy Walker Terry White Chemmart, and Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise.
Swoop Aero’s Southern Queensland integrated drone logistics network will contribute to the transformation of Australian businesses by building a new infrastructure layer for society, bridging the gaps in society’s infrastructure by overcoming vast distances, traffic congestion, location accessibility, inhospitable terrain, and data shortages.
“Swoop Aero’s Southern Queensland network will be the world’s first, and largest, fully integrated drone logistics network. Funding from the Federal Government will accelerate the value we can add back to Australian society, across industries, including medical transport, search and rescue, agriculture and government,” said Eric Peck, Swoop Aero’s CEO and Co-founder.
With successful networks already operating in Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, the UK and Singapore — Swoop Aero has proven itself in some of the toughest conditions and the funding further recognises the leadership it plays in the industry.
The network, spanning an area greater than the size of New Zealand, will leverage Swoop Aero’s most advanced aircraft, the Kite. The platform is currently undergoing a joint Type Certification process with the US’s Federal Aviation Authority and Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority, enabling seamless integration of drone logistics into urban and rural environments alike.