Jersey hosts drone trial
Image courtesy Digital Jersey
Alongside Ports of Jersey and Volant Autonomy, Digital Jersey assisted in the facilitation of the trial, which is one of only two such initiatives worldwide.
America’s space agency is among the international eyes that have been closely tracking the progress of the a 'cutting edge' £3.7 million programme to trial uncrewed aerial technology taking place in Jersey.
Sorel has been used as a launch site for test flights since April, as part of the UK’s Agile Integrated Airspace System programme (ALIAS).
Ports of Jersey helped to facilitate the project, which is now in its final phase, alongside Digital Jersey and Volant Autonomy.
The drones took to the skies off the north coast during a series of test flights – initially in April and, most recently, last week.
The trials have been examining the reliability of the unmanned technology and ensuring it meets strict aviation safety standards.
Digital Jersey CEO Tony Moretta said ideas that may once have seemed like 'science-fiction' are being enabled by projects like the one happening on Jersey’s very own doorstep: “China has already licenced air-taxis, which are drones that can carry people, and the rest of the world will follow.
“We talk about our supply chain challenges here – and drones were used interestingly enough during COVID, in lockdown, to get medical supplies over to the Isle of Wight from the UK mainland.
“So there are lots of applications [regarding] supply chains and we need to understand what is coming down the line.”
Tony also revealed that the 'cutting edge' project was one of only two of its kind in the world: “The other one is being done by NASA. We’ve had team calls with the project here and the project team in NASA.”
