Canadian firm Draganfly’s drones tapped for Ukraine search-and-rescue, medical missions

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A Canadian drone manufacturer’s aircraft will soon be searching for wounded civilians and ferrying medical supplies in hard-hit areas of Ukraine after receiving an order from a humanitarian group.

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Saskatoon-based Draganfly Inc. announced this week that it would be deploying its medical response and search-and-rescue drone models to Revived Soldiers Ukraine (RSU), a non-profit humanitarian organization providing aid to Ukrainians following the Russian invasion.

The order would see Draganfly immediately send over ten North American-manufactured drones as well as three additional donated drones, which will be controlled by RSU pilots. Draganfly expects the order to eventually total about 200 aircraft, which will be sent to the RSU headquarters in Kyiv and other areas where drone support is needed.

Since announcing the order, the company has received numerous requests from people looking to donate drones themselves, Draganfly co-founder and chief executive officer Cameron Chell told the Financial Post in an interview.

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“Probably the thing that we are most absolutely shocked by is we’ve had a number of shareholders that are now stepping up and saying that they want to buy drones to send over,” Chell said, adding that the company is setting up a portal to accept such requests.

The company’s search-and-rescue drones use thermal and infrared sensor technology to search combat zones, where they can locate stranded civilians trapped under rubble. Using the drones would mean humanitarian workers wouldn’t have to put themselves at risk by searching every damaged and unstable building. Once the civilians in need are identified, a rescue mission can proceed to aid them.

Draganfly’s medical response drones are comparatively larger and more expensive and come equipped with a temperature-managed storage box that can carry up to 35 pounds of medical supplies, including blood, first-aid kits, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, as well as insulin and other medicines. These drones typically can operate across a five-mile radius.

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“One of the most heartbreaking stories are requests for more insulin — particularly for children who are diabetic,” Chell said, adding that using trucks to deliver the supplies can be dangerous if not impossible. “But if you can do that with a drone, your potential effectiveness is much, much higher to get into that area and to get (the insulin) exactly where it’s needed.”

Draganfly’s drones have been on life-saving missions before. In 2013, the Saskatoon-manufactured Draganflyer X4-ES was credited as the first public-service drone to save a human life when it located a lost Canadian who ventured out into freezing temperatures following a car accident in the middle of the night, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were able to pilot the drone and locate the missing man using thermal imaging technology. The model is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

When the company was founded in Canada 24 years ago, Draganfly’s business was largely focused on search-and-rescue missions as well as surveying and 3D mapping for car accident reconstruction and forensic investigations.

“Those kind of became the two main use cases for Draganfly,” Chell said.

Nowadays, the business has expanded to surveying services for mining, forestry, oil and gas, and infrastructure. The company’s drones have also found applications in the agricultural space, using camera sensors to determine moisture and nutrient levels in soil and spraying crops.

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During the pandemic, drones also flew over large venues to spray sanitizer on stadiums and event areas. Chell sees these industries as areas of growth for Draganfly and the entire drone sector as further innovations become available.

For search-and-rescue drones, Chell told the Post he was excited about new technology that could read a person’s vital signs.

Chell said that Draganfly is the oldest commercial drone company in the world and has been publicly listed on the Nasdaq since July 2021 under the ticker DPRO.

It’s drones cost $15,000 for the search-and-rescue model and $25,000 for the delivery model and the company said that it would activate a donation portal on their website in the coming days.

“If anybody wants to … participate in humanitarian effort, please contact us through the website, or contact (RSU) and we can send a drone over there with your name on it in order to help the effort,” Chell said.

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