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Dronamics, Cotesa pair for middle-mile delivery drone production

Europe’s middle-mile drone delivery specialist Dronamics has announced a strategic partnership with Cotesa, a German composite fiber components producer, which will produce the aviation transport group’s flagship Black Swan automated UAV.

Dronamics revealed the agreement with Cotesa Tuesday, saying the German firm will oversee manufacturing of Black Swan delivery drones at its three facilities. Boasting a staff of over 400 employees skilled in producing complex composite components for aviation and automobile customers, Dromamics described Cotesa as a vital partner in its plans to launch middle-mile UAV transport in 2023, then keep pace with what it expects to be growing client demand.

ReadDronamics taps Oz’s Quickstep for middle-mile delivery drone production 

The announcement came nearly two months after Dronamics struck a separate deal with Australian aviation engineering and manufacturing company Quickstep as its first international production partner of Black Swan delivery drones

Although the company’s press release does not say so explicitly, the additional partnership with Cotesa evidently seeks to guarantee sufficient UAV manufacturing capacities to meet demand in both European and Australia – markets in which it plans to be particularly active. 

The move is another important milestone for Dronamics this year, which was highlighted by it becoming the first company certified by European regulators to operate as a drone airline across the European Union (EU).

Using its operational base in Malta, Dromanics plans on carving an early, groundbreaking niche for itself in the drone delivery sector by eschewing last-leg transport of goods in favor of middle-mile hauls currently served only by far slower land vehicles.

Central to that activity will be Dronamics automated Black Swan delivery drone, which will be produced to carry up to 350 kg of goods 2,500 km across a network of airports the company is assembling around the EU. With Cotesa signed on as its manufacturing partner, Dronamics CEO Svilen Rangelov believes the company will be ready to launch and quickly scale services next year.

“We are delighted to have Cotesa as a manufacturing partner in Europe,” Rangelov said. “This agreement to produce the Black Swan in their German facility supports our promise to enable same day delivery for everyone, everywhere, and the start of Dromanics’ commercial operations as the first drone cargo airline on the continent next year.”

Read: Dronamics joins Scotland’s national medical drone delivery network 

Dromanics has also been at work signing on partners on the client side of the business. Last month it announced it had become the aerial transport provider for the the Care and Equity – Healthcare Logistics UAS Scotland (CAELUS) consortium, which aims to create the world’s first nationwide healthcare drone delivery network. Last year, the company struck middle-mile delivery deals with with global freight companies like DHL and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.

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Avatar for Bruce Crumley Bruce Crumley

Bruce Crumley is journalist and writer who has worked for Fortune, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, and was Paris correspondent and bureau chief for Time magazine specializing in political and terrorism reporting. He splits his time between Paris and Biarritz, and is the author of novel Maika‘i Stink Eye.

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