Gadfin Aero-Logistics Systems has secured a long-term exclusive partnership agreement with SAREL, Israel’s biggest medical Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) and logistics company, to create a drone delivery network that will connect major hospitals in Israel within a 200km radius.
According to Gadfin, this new contract will make Israel the first western country in the world to have an automatic, on demand, medical delivery aerial grid.
The first operational delivery line is thought to be the longest drone delivery line in the world, stretching up to 100km radius, and will enable SAREL to have constant supply of medical equipment, medicines, vaccines, blood, serum, lab samples and more.
The project is based on Gadfin’s patented technology that enables flight of up to a 250km distance (125km radius without swapping batteries and hydrogen tank). This is accomplished by using hydrogen fuel cell technology, a special patented wing folding mechanism, and state-of-the-art safety design to meet the demanding regulation standards.
Gadfin predicts that the project will reach up to 60 deliveries a day (up to 21,000 deliveries a year) within three years, using 18 Gadfin Spirit One Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
The Spirit One UAV is designed to carry a standard cooled medical supply package inside its cargo bay that can support up to -80°C to enable delivery of any required medical supply, including organs. It can fly in heavy rain and winds reaching up to 30km\h. The Spirit One is also equipped with an independent automatic parachute system for emergencies.
“This partnership we established with Gadfin, utilizing it’s breakthrough technology, as part of SAREL’s innovation policy, will allow SAREL to be the first medical logistics company in the world to allow a nationwide, on demand, immediate lifesaving equipment and supply, regardless of traffic, while reducing inventory and waste due to expired medical supplies,” said Avi Buskila, SAREL’s CEO.
“This is a great day for the drone delivery revolution, for Israel’s health system, and for SAREL,” said Eyal Regev, Gadfin CEO. “I think SAREL made a great choice by selecting Gadfin to be their air-logistics company. Gadfin’s systems gives SAREL the capability to fly a wide variety of medical supplies with extreme, real time monitored, cooling. And to it almost all across Israel, up to 250km radius, from one central hub. This brings into light the enormous efforts Gadfin’s top notch team of engineers have successfully achieved, in defining, designing and building a functioning day and night, rain or shine super robust air delivery system, which brings a fully operational drone delivery system into life.”
