Today, Zipline the San Francisco based drone manufacturer and the logistical services company, launched a program in Ghana to deliver medical supplies by drone. In partnership with the government of the West African country, Zipline will fly 30 drones from four distribution centers to deliver medical supplies, such as vaccines, blood, and medication to 2,000 healthcare facilities across the country on a daily basis. Zipline also confirmed that it is looking to expand their services to other countries and to take their delivery service by drone from testing-phase to live-deliveries in the U.S., sometime this summer.

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They have been at it for a few years now but earlier this month, DHL, GIZ on behalf of BMZ and Wingcopter, flew the DHL Parcelcopter 4.0 over 37 miles in about 40 minutes to a remote island in Lake Victoria as part of the project ‘Deliver Future’. The tilt-rotor drone can perform vertical take-offs and landings. However, once in the air it can transition to a more energy-efficient fixed-wing done that flies a lot faster. expand full story

A few years ago, the California-based startup company, Zipline started a nationwide drone blood delivery system in Rwanda. Since then they have flown some 187,500 miles, delivering over 7,000 units of blood in more than 4,000 flights. The company is now introducing a new fixed wing drone, which they claim is the world’s fastest delivery drone with a top speed of almost 80 mph. Zipline has also re-designed their distribution centers and logistical operations to bring the time it takes to get a drone ready from 10 minutes to only one.

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One of the best examples of drone deliveries must be Zipline’s blood and medical supply delivery system in Rwanda. The San Francisco-based company has successfully used drones to fly “more than 187,500 miles, delivering 7,000 units of blood over 7,500 flights” since they launched their service in Africa. Could medical cargo benefitting from using a drone to deliver supplies open up the skies for more routine drone deliveries?

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A drone revolution is happening in Africa. This may come as a surprise to most but Africa is leading the way in drone innovation. The lax regulation in most African countries means that new drone ideas and applications can be tried and tested quickly. Aljazeera investigated and looked at some of the most innovative drone concepts.

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