The first unmanned trade aerial vehicle flight
Source：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2023/06/16
“The Black Swan” - the first unmanned aerial vehicle of the Bulgarian company Dronamics, made its maiden flight yesterday from the airport in Balchiĸ, as disclosed by team members afterwards. This is an important step in the history of a company that aims to change the business of logistics on a global scale. Dronamics aims for large-scale drones and is the first licensed airline for the transportation of unmanned aerial vehicles in Europe. They are also partners of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
“Black Swan” can carry 350 kg of cargo up to 2,500 km, which the company claims are 80% faster, 50% cheaper, and with 60% lower CO2 emissions. The technology and the ambitions behind it were demonstrated in the flight over the Black Sea. The machine was controlled remotely by two experienced pilots who were in the ground control station of Dronamics. Before this flight, in the course of several months, various ground tests were conducted. Other, smaller models were also flown. So far, Dronamics has received a total of 40 million USD from private equity funds and business angels from 12 countries and is further financed by the Accelerator program of the EU’s Innovation Council.
During the official announcement Svilen Rangelov, co-founder and CEO of Dronamics stated, that this achievement took a lot of work, time, and effort, in order to prove that the concept has real potential on a global scale. The next challenge for the company is to open up to the market and start trade activity. The company sees many areas where its drones could be useful – the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry, e-trade, and spare parts logistics.
Last year, Dronamics signed a contract for the production of “Black Swan” with the European producer Cotesa, and in February - with the Australian company Quickstep.