Lessons from medical delivery applications: Accelerating adoption via multistakeholder collaborationBOX 4 One more example of the ways drones have been operated successfully in a societal context is India’s Medicine from the Sky (MFTS) initiative.5 In rural and remote regions of India, particularly in rural Telangana and in the mountainous Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh, healthcare delivery is often hindered by challenging terrain and poor infrastructure. The MFTS initiative, launched to address these challenges, uses drones to rapidly transport medical supplies and samples to areas that are otherwise difficult to access. The programme aims to improve the speed and efficiency of healthcare delivery in regions that face frequent stockouts and delayed medical deliveries, improving both the reach and effectiveness of healthcare services. Relevance and impact: Traditional methods of delivering medical supplies in these areas are slow and unreliable, with road transport often taking several hours even for short journeys. In emergencies, such as snakebites or the need for life-saving medications, delays can be fatal. By taking advantage of drone technology, MFTS can deliver supplies much faster, often reducing delivery times by up to 10 times compared to road transport. The drones operate with minimal infrastructure needs, relying on basic landing zones and charging points and use real-time GPS to ensure safe, efficient operation. Drone service providers, such as Redwing Labs, manage the operation, which keeps costs low and ensures scalability. The success of MFTS is rooted in collaboration between various stakeholders. The initiative has worked closely with government bodies like the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation, which provided regulatory support, and local healthcare providers, such as Apollo Hospitals, and local collectorate districts in the areas of implementation and the corresponding state governments that facilitate the integration of drone technology into the healthcare system. Additionally, technical partners have ensured that drones are capable of handling temperature-sensitive deliveries, crucial for maintaining the efficacy of vaccines and other medications. The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s collaboration and support of these projects, alongside local government support, has been essential for ensuring operational success. MFTS has been deployed in regions with limited connectivity, overcoming one of the significant challenges faced by those in remote areas. The drones are able to operate efficiently even when connectivity is poor, thanks to their automated systems and offline capabilities. By facilitating more frequent and timely deliveries, the initiative helps to reduce stockouts and ensures that life-saving medicines are available when needed most. Key lessons learned: 1. The MFTS initiative underscores the importance of building networks that integrate local knowledge, low-cost drone technology and sufficient infrastructure to enable successful deployments in remote areas. 2. Success in public service drone use cases, such as healthcare, will not only depend on the capabilities of the drones themselves but also on effective coordination among stakeholders, robust regulatory frameworks, self- sufficiency and the necessary ground infrastructure to support operations. While drone operations provide valuable insights into the implementation of AAM, particularly around operational feasibility, financial viability and social acceptance, they represent only the first step on a much longer journey. Also, drone operations still need to scale further across a wide range of use cases, with new challenges and learnings that will be encountered along the way. Still, first learnings from drone deployments offer some transferrable lessons for a number of challenges in deploying larger aircraft, such as VTOLs, CTOLs and STOLs. These learnings will need to be combined with forward-looking strategies that prepare for the complexities of higher payloads, longer ranges and deeper integration into transport networks. Advanced Air Mobility: Paving the Way to Responsible Implementation 18

Advanced Air Mobility 2025