The ATLAS ALPHA and ATLAS BRAVO centres have marked a new milestone as part of the U-ELCOME U-space research programme: the transport of medical supplies by drone between Beas de Segura and Villacarrillo, in the province of Jaén, connecting two different U-space airspaces.
According to the project coordinators:
“The project aims to demonstrate how the use of unmanned aerial systems can help provide solutions for transporting medical supplies to remote or hard-to-reach areas, improving accessibility. To this end, a live flight demonstration was conducted involving the coordinated participation of the 75-kg unmanned fixed-wing UAS TARSIS, two multirotor drones, three complete flight teams from the Spanish company AERTEC and the University of Seville, as well as medical transport personnel from the Fundación SSG, alongside CATEC, the Advanced Aerospace Technologies Centre; the company PildoLabs; and the platforms of ENAIRE and ITG, the Technology Institute of Galicia.
“This is also the first time in Europe that an in-flight control handover operation has been carried out for a fixed-wing drone of this size between two stations separated by 23 km.
“All the operations conducted during the demonstration were monitored in real time using the U-space service provision platforms (USSP) developed by ENAIRE and ITG. Additionally, ENAIRE acted as the sole Common Information Service Provider (CISP), thereby validating the safe integration of these technologies into European airspace.
“Today we have seen the opportunities presented by U-space systems in unmanned aircraft operations, as well as the possibility of transferring control of a drone between two U-space airspaces. This enables us to carry out longer flights by managing drone air traffic across different digital platforms”, said Rodrigo Benedit Pascual, technician in ENAIRE’s Drone Business Development Department and technical coordinator of the U-ELCOME project in Spain.
U-ELCOM activities are taking place in eight autonomous communities: Andalusia, Aragon, Canary Islands, Catalonia, Valencian Community, Galicia, Madrid and Navarre. The project seeks to encourage the adoption of basic U1 and U2 services, facilitating the safe integration of drones into European airspace.
For more information
https://www.enaire.es/en_GB/2025_06_10/ndp_gb_uelcome_project_joins_uspace_airspaces_drones_andalusia
