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Drones flying high in Africa

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Across the continent, drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are being increasingly used and designed to solve Africa’s challenges and promote development.

One advantage the continent has for operating such systems is a relative absence of regulations compared to Europe or America.  This has seen a proliferation of operations other than military in areas such as humanitarian assistance, agriculture and health.

In Rwanda, drones deliver blood to as many as half the blood-transfusion centres in the country.  In its health sector, Malawi uses drones to deliver and collect HIV test kits in remote areas.  They are also used in various countries to combat poaching and track illegal maritime activities and pollution such as oil spills.

In Sudan, a vast country with millions of hectares turned into desert through decades of drought and deforestation, drones are used to sow acacia seeds to bind the sand.

The Africa Aerospace and Defence Expo (AAD) at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria was an ideal venue to showcase some of the many and varied systems available worldwide.

These ranged from tethered drones designed for long-endurance surveillance missions, to fixed wing UAVs designed to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance work over large areas and fully automated drones that can perform round-the-clock automatic patrols or quick situation assessments.

South African company, Milkor, had three new UAVs on display.  These ranged from a hand-held drone with a two-metre wing-span  which can travel about 10 kilometres; a medium sized  craft with a six-metre wing span to the largest, MA 380  a 12-metre wingspan with a maximum 80 kilogramme payload that enables it to carry a sophisticated camera system for surveillance.

Milkor Regional Business Development Manager, Ross Leslie, outlined the potential to combat illegal fishing, a widespread and common problem off Africa. “From a surveillance perspective, using software that inputs it into the drone that can detect legal compared to illegal fishing vessels.  They get spotted on the radar by the drone and the information gets sent to the people below that need to sort the situation out. It is literally stealing millions of dollars in revenue from each country.”

Leslie elaborated on the drone’s uses to fight the current crime of rhino and elephant poaching. ”We can get the drones flying at such a high altitude that poachers don’t know they are being watched.  And because of the systems and software used in them from real time the information can be sent down below with pin-point GPS accuracy. We have software that can differentiate and recognize each different type of rhino as well as elephant so that software can essentially track and be used from a conservation perspective”

Although a certain degree of emphasis was on military and security applications, these were by no means the only options available and many companies enable potential clients to customize the product to meet their needs.

And to counter drones, there was also a drone mitigation solution on display.  This is a low-power, non-jamming and non-lethal system that provides a safe and effective method of protecting personnel and infrastructure from dangerous drones.

Although aviation experts say that while the continent is not seeing an over-abundance of activity in either the high-end military end of the UAV spectrum, or the low-end commercial side, there is a wealth of potential and exciting new entries in the middle.

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