Testing drones in Israel

Perhaps, without exaggeration, Wednesday can be called a historic day from a drone perspective: an experimental drone transport system was put into operation in the airspace of an Israeli resort town, Hadera. According to the British news agency Reuters, on March 17, transporting drones swept the skies of the Mediterranean coastal town so that their – even coordinated – movement was controlled from a single control room.

Obviously, many still fear that a system capable of delivering pizza or medicine to the home in the near future could cause an accident in the event of an air or crash, but the testing that has just begun is a key moment in a 2023 study period, so everyone can rest easy. Representing the opinion of the Israeli Innovation Authority, Hagit Lidor also keeps this sentence around him as a shield for the time being, but he also encourages drone companies to study what the market expects from them. In any case, Hadera’s airspace was “handed over” by private authorities to private companies for the purpose of the experiment. Wednesday’s task was specifically to test control room control – from a 56-kilometer distance in Haifa. At one time, 20 devices flew across each other’s paths, 120 feet high, at least 60 feet apart, with live navigation.

At the end of the two-year period, after lessons have been learned, the ball can already bounce off the table of legislators. Agricultural pilots and paragliders working locally, on the other hand, have been given priority in the meantime, and the authorities have been forced to avoid drones by at least one kilometer when they are traveling. And those on the ground who are worried about damaging the drones have been reassured by Hagit Lidor, without a parachute there can be no planes in the sky, even on an experimental basis, so an impact is out of the question. Representing Ayalon Highways (a state-owned highway construction company) participating in the test, Itamar Ben Meir told CalcalisTech on Wednesday that the starting meters of a long journey to the goal of nationwide, low-altitude, mass, commercial rail transport took place on Wednesday.

The project is partnered by the Department of Transportation, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Intelligent Mobility Initiative and the Alternative Fuel Administration, adds DroneDJ. The 8 companies involved in the flight: High Lander Aviation, Cando Drones, HarTech Technologies, CopterPix, Simplex Mapping, Down Wind, Airways Drones, and F.T. The cost of the entire test is $ 3.6 million, half of which will be borne by the state authority.