SAFIR-Ready: emergency response through advanced air mobility

Estonian Aviation Seminar 2024

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SAFIR-Ready, a groundbreaking pan-European project set to enable emergency response and medical solutions through the power of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), has officially kicked-off by its 34 partners and a same number of advisory board members at time of launch. Estonian Aviation Academy is more than proud to be one of the partners in this project.

This cutting-edge initiative builds upon a strong legacy going back to 2016. Preceding projects contributed to the first EU unmanned aviation legislation (SAFIR) and further built upon this with U Space concepts and digital interfaces demonstrated in medical use cases (SAFIR-Med). From initial U-Space concepts, over architecture and interface definition, towards building robust interfaces between market actors, the objective was always to contribute to key societal challenges: need for swift, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions for emergency response. The project’s focus on “mission readiness” is embedded in its name; ‘SAFIR-Ready’. The ambition is to make ad-hoc Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights a reality. This requires rapid automated flight authorization and integrated drone ground automation, leveraging U-space services. The result? Significantly reduced response times, lower transportation costs, and decreased carbon emissions; enabling crisis response to save lives and protect property.

The project promises a thrilling future where drones replace traditional vehicles, expediting crucial responses and thereby transform the face of healthcare and emergency services.