German drone developer Wingcopter has entered a partnership with South American holding company UAV LATAM for the provision of drone-based delivery services to remote regions of the Peruvian Andes.
The scheme will employ fleets of Wingcopter 198 unmanned aircraft vehicle to deliver goods for commercial and humanitarian purposes, including the provision of medical products to hard-to-reach mountain villages in Peru.
The 198 drone has a payload capacity of six kilograms, and can travel at a default cruise speed of 100km/h at a range of up to 110km, in up to 15m/s of average wind resistance.
Wingcopter says that the partners are also exploring the potential of expanding the services into other countries in the region in future.
Both Wingcopter and UAV LATAM are members of the Flying Labs Network
UAV LATAM subsidiary UAV del Peru is part of Peru Flying Labs, a member of the international Flying Labs Network initiative, which aims to strengthen local expertise in the use of drones, robotics, data and artificial intelligence for positive social change in more than 30 countries worldwide. Wingcopter joined the Network as a Technology Partner in early 2021, and also trained pilots for UAV LATAM.
“Currently, several Latin American countries have partially deficient infrastructure, especially in the health sector, affecting billions of lives, a situation that has been aggravated by Covid-19,” said Juan Bergelund, CEO of UAV LATAM. “At UAV LATAM, we are convinced that with the deployment of Wingcopter drones in Latin America, we can actively support Wingcopter’s vision of creating efficient and sustainable drone delivery solutions that improve and save lives everywhere.”
Wingcopter previously agreed a US$16 million commercial agreement with Air Methods subsidiary Spright in January 2022, to provide medical services across rural parts of the US.
