North Dakota’s Department of Commerce has announced that it will be testing a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone delivery service on July 24.
“Project Rural Reach will launch a 34-mile drone flight from Williston to Watford City, demonstrating how unmanned aircraft could one day deliver medical supplies and essential goods to remote areas,” the Department said in a social media post. “Powered by the Vantis UAS network and operated by iSight Drone Services, this long-range flight marks a major step in advancing UAS for public use.”
Project Rural Reach is a University of North Dakota initiative, launched earlier in 2025, which specialises in demonstrating real-world drone operations in sparsely populated areas. In addition to the iSight rural delivery project, Rural Reach is developing two other use cases – the use of drones in disaster response and extending the range of autonomous vehicles.
In September 2024, the University of North Dakota successfully completed a pair of proof-of-concept BVLOS flights between Elbowoods Memorial Health Center in New Town, N.D., and Twin Buttes, N.D. Drone company Valkyrie provided a flight team for the project, funded by a US Department of Transportation grant.
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Image: iSight Drone Services
